Douglas Waplesand Social

Epistemology

Nicole Kam

October 15, 2009

Who is he?

University of Chicago in 1925Highly influenced research in the

graduate library schoolInvestigating Library Problems

(1939) became a standard textbook on research methods

Interested in reading behavior. What Reading Does to People (1940) with Berelson and Bradshaw.

Epistemology

What is knowledge?

How do you know it is knowledge?

What do you know?

How do you know what you know?

Social Epistemology

The study of how a society or group of people interacts with knowledge

At what point is there collective knowledge?

How does a society know what it knows?

According to Jesse Shera, Waples reading behavior studies inspired the idea for social epistemology.

Background

Waples was at the forefront of a movement in library science toward using quantitative methods to address social problems

Before, library science was about technical practices and the study of “library economy” or how libraries are run

Libraries and Readers in the State of New York

By Douglas Waples and Leon Carnovsky, 1939

To study library practices and then make recommendations to public policy based on the findings

Assumptions

The state seeks to lead the community toward “better” reading material (2)

Literacy is important. Supplying “exciting” or “sensational” publications to inspire young readers (3)

“The most accessible publications are the ones most widely read” (3) quoted from Carnovsky

Accessibility is not enough to encourage “good” choices when all types of publications are available. People go with the easier choice

Hypothesis

“To increase the educational values of reading the more useful publications must be easily available”

Methods

Two towns, Extown and Wytown, were chosen. Both are suburban communities in New York. They spend a lot of public education. Both have a wide range of publications available and a variety of means in which to obtain them.

Extown: population 6,000, homogenous, wealthy, educated

Wytown: population 16,000, more diverse, less wealthy, less years of schooling

Survey FormAppendix A & B

Possible problems with self reporting?

(Waples and Carnovsky, 139)

Survey FormDifferences between the

student form and the teacher and parent form?

(Waples and Carnovsky, 140)

Qualitative Classification

(Waples and Carnovsky, 146-147)

High School Students

School library supplies considerably less trivial fiction than the public library and personal libraries/friends.

(Waples and Carnovsky, 60)

Teachers• Teachers do a lot of

professional reading. Elementary school teachers read more of it. High school teachers read a wider range of publications.

(Waples and Carnovsky, 82)

Parents• Extown parents

read more books on “modern social problems” and biographies. Wytown reads a lot of romance/glamour and religious books.

(Waples and Carnovsky, 97)

Conclusions

Library staffing: number of students should determine number of librarians needed, not their competency

Further study to determine minimum book needs of students

Better planning of library building space and design

Better cooperation between school and public libraries. Combining space, staff and collections

Recommendations

“The library” should be examined by educational authorities to further evaluate it’s value

School districts that are too small for one full time librarian and an adequate collection should be increased to a larger size

The State Library Extension Division should establish regional depositories

A long term study should be done to better fund libraries from federal money

A study to redistrict public library areas

Important questions today

Cooperation between public school libraries and public libraries. What policies would need to be involved?

How do we get kids to read? How to we get them to read “good” publications?

Why are people reading what they are?

The Other Side

His work has certainly led to LIS to become a discipline, not just a practice or a vocation. Students are encouraged to be independent and innovative and find their own answers. He encouraged interdisciplinary work.

While the expansion and diversifying of the field is a good thing, Altman describes the problem of the field fragmenting. Multi-disciplinary areas of library and information science mean that funding can come from many different areas and while this may mean more funds, it can also lead to a field lacking unity.

The Other Side

W. Boyd Rayward looks back on Waples work, arguing that the field has cycled backwards. Library school programs today are not instilling in their students the passion for research, discovery and scholarship that Waples strived for, and that perhaps it is time for a reevaluation of these programs.

Charles Terbille points out the flaws of the Waples-Berelson model of library science. For example, Waples’ methods do not call for a literature review before beginning an experiment. Terbille argues for more weight to be place upon Pierce Butler’s work, who wanted librarians to be scientific, yes, but not to the point where they lose touch with the people that they serve.

Works Cited

Altman, Ellen. "Differences in Ideology” within "Whither LIS Research: Ideology, Funding, and Educational Standards," in Library and Information Science Research, edited by Charles R. McClure and Peter Hernon (New York: Ablex, 1991), pp. 114-117.

Rayward, W. Boyd. “Research and Education for Library and Information Science: Waples in Retrospect”, The Library Quarterly, 56, no. 4 (October, 1986), http://www.jstor.org/stable/4308042.

Terbille, Charles I. "Competing models of library science: Waples-Berelson and Butler." Libraries & Culture 27 (Summer 1992): 296-319.

Waples, Douglas and Leon Carnovsky. Libraries and Readers in the State of New York. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1939.