Graduate Research Papers

Availability

Open Access Graduate Research Paper

Keywords

Hawkeye Institute of Technology. Library--Public opinion; Hawkeye Institute of Technology--Professional staff--Attitudes; Community college libraries--Iowa--Waterloo--Public opinion;

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze the attitudes of the faculty and administrators toward the Library at Hawkeye Institute of Technology (HIT) in Waterloo, Iowa. Three years prior to this study the library collection at this vocational-technical school had been centralized in new facilities. By surveying library services used, the importance of materials and equipment to classroom teaching, student assignments and administrative duties and the responsibility for selecting and housing those materials and equipment, this researcher hoped 1) to determine if the faculty and administrators were accepting the new organizational pattern, and 2) to discover where those services and materials needed to be improved.

A four-part questionnaire was sent to 134 administrators and faculty. A 52% return was received and results were tabulated. Part I asked for general information about the respondent's status at HIT. Part II listed eight resources offered for programs and students and respondents were asked to rank order those. The Library was ranked fourth by faculty and fifth by administrators.

Part III listed fourteen library services offered and asked for an importance ranking. "Alerting staff to new items in their field" was most important service to both groups.

Part IV listed materials and equipment and asked respondents to indicate which were most important for classroom teaching and student assignments and which materials and equipment should be selected and housed in the Library and which materials and equipment should be selected and housed in the program areas. The most important items for classroom teaching and student assignments were the printed materials of textbooks and periodicals.

The Library was designated as the place for selection and housing of general purpose materials and the faculty was to select program specific materials. However, a 11Both 11 (librarian and faculty) category for selection drew a surprisingly large number of responses and a higher-than-anticipated number of respondents wanted program specific materials housed in the Library.

An over-all assessment of the results of this study pointed to a positive attitude toward both the Library and the centralized collection on the part of the faculty and administrators at HIT.

Year of Submission

1982

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Department of Library Science

First Advisor

Leah Hiland

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this graduate research paper and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit an email request to scholarworks@uni.edu. Include your name and clearly identify the thesis by full title and author as shown on the work.

Date Original

7-1982

Object Description

1 PDF file (iv, 63 pages)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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