International, National, and Local Notions of the Public Library: An extended case study in Namibia

<p>This dissertation is a study of library use in a poor neighborhood in Windhoek, Namibia, to understand the diffusion of public libraries around the world. I used a sociological approach and the Extended Case Method (Burawoy, 1991; 1998). Two theories framed the research: World Society Theory (Meyer et al. 1997) and New Institutional Theory (Powell and DiMaggio, 1991). World Society Theory was developed from evidence of similarities in governmental, health and educational organizations globally that demonstrates the growth of a world culture based on a rationalistic and scientific approach to knowledge. The findings show that international notions of public libraries do influence national and local notions of them. Local and national notions of the library also have influence, however, and the libraries are ultimately an amalgamation of local and international notions, reflecting in part the needs of the community for education and self-development.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Information Science and Technology

Year

2012

Author dc:creator

• Webb, Sarah M.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Barbara Kwasnik

• Namibia
• New Institutional Theory
• Public Libraries
• World Society Theory
• Library and Information Science

Repository record dc:identifier

https://surface.syr.edu/it_etd/71

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:surface.syr.edu:it_etd-1070