Library and Information Science Commons^™

Worth Fighting For: Factors Influencing Selection Decisions In School Libraries, April M. Dawkins

Theses and Dissertations

Intellectual freedom is one of the basic tenets of the library profession. However, most librarians will face attempts to censor or control access to information at some point in their careers. School librarians might choose to self-censor because they fear facing a challenge that calls into question not only their professionalism but also their personal values and ethics. While there have been numerous studies on censorship in other types of libraries, there is little research in the area of censorship and intellectual freedom as it pertains to the school library field. The purpose of this study is to understand the …

Reproductive Healthcare Information-Seeking Behavior In Undeserved Women: An Exploratory Study, Margaret S. Zimmerman

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the reproductive health-related information-seeking of low-income women which has been found to be affected by digital divide disparities. Included in this is an assessment of what reproductive health-related information needs they have, which sources they consult most frequently, if they trust the sources that they use, and how their information-seeking interacts with the variables of perceived risk and perceived barriers. While there have been many studies on the end effects of a lack of accurate and accessible reproductive health information little research has been conducted to examine the reproductive healthcare information-seeking patterns of women who live in …

Circling The Reality Of Public Institutions Anchoring Gentrification: An E-Delphi Study Of Information, Culture, And Community Stakeholders Voicing The Way Forward In Detroit, Michigan, Celeste L. Welch

Theses and Dissertations

Information, culture, and memory centers increasingly anchor urban redevelopment projects in historically marginalized communities challenged with contemporary social and economic disparities. This dissertation situated libraries, archives, and museums within a socio-cultural context and examined the role of cultural heritage institutions in gentrification. Librarians, archivists, curators, and community advocates in Detroit, Michigan shared their viewpoints and experiences of gentrification in a legacy city. Using a modified Delphi process, the e-Delphi panel explored the need for assessing policy, service delivery, and programming in a city of color at-risk to gentrification-induced displacement.

This mixed research study used a concurrent triangulation design. A panel …

No End In Sight: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of U.S. National Newspaper Coverage Of The Iraq War, Anmol Rattan Kalsi

Theses and Dissertations

On May 1, 2003, standing in front of a banner declaring “Mission Accomplished” aboard the warship U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, President Bush announced an end to major combat in Iraq, referring to the war as “one victory in the war on terror.” Over seven years later, on August 31, 2010, President Obama in a televised speech also announced an end to the combat mission in Iraq. On October 21, 2011, President Obama once again reaffirmed that U.S. military personnel would be leaving Iraq, saluting the troops on their “success” and remarking on the Iraqi government’s readiness for governing. And finally, on …

Equity Of Access To Cultural Heritage: The Influence Of The Museum Experience On Learning In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Liya Deng

Theses and Dissertations

Autism is one of the fastest-growing developmental disorders in the United States. Due to impairments in social interaction and communication, autistic children face challenges in traditional education settings where instruction is based mainly on one-way communication between teachers and students. On the other hand, current research indicates that the museum environment offers opportunities for free-choice, object-based, and inquiry-based learning suitable for the educational and social needs of autistic children. However, there is a paucity of professional literature assessing the impact of such unconventional settings as museums on the learning experience of autistic children.

To narrow this gap in our knowledge, …

Exploring Undergraduate Students' Information Seeking Motivation: A Self-Determination Perspective, Ana Dubnjakovic

Theses and Dissertations

Human motivation is a widely debated construct in psychology and many disciplines in social science as well as education and health sciences have adopted various psychological theories in an effort to understand motivational forces behind many human activities from dieting (e.g., Schelling, Munsch and Margraf, 2011), psychotherapy (e.g., Martens, 2010) and academic achievement (e.g., Artino, Holmboe and Durning, 2012) to political participation (e.g., Hersh, 2012). Case (2012) devotes an entire chapter in his seminal text on information behavior to an overview of what he calls a “motivational puzzle” tying it to information need as the predominantly discussed dimension of motivation …