Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Public libraries Censorship Australia'

This research examines the development of virtual libraries in Commonwealth libraries in Australia in 1998-1999. The background to the study lies in some of the current issues in the information sector, and government responses to those issues. The study begins by considering the nature of the Australian Commonwealth Government, reviewing what government libraries are and whom they serve, and examining the future trends expected to affect Commonwealth libraries. The current state of virtual library research is then reviewed, and the need for research in the Commonwealth library sector examined. The author reviews the virtual library concept as expressed in the literature in the field, determines what a virtual library is, and gives consideration to why virtual libraries are being developed. The issues that affect and are affected by virtual library development are then examined. Based on this, a model of virtual libraries is formulated, along with a brief consideration of the possible application, importance and problems associated with each element of the model. The research design and methods that were used to gather information for this study are then outlined, along with the inherent limitations of the research model. Following this, the findings from a survey of virtual library development in Commonwealth libraries are discussed. The author then conducts some analysis of these responses, and makes comparisons between different Commonwealth library responses, as well as comparisons with virtual library studies conducted in American and Australian academic libraries. The research concludes by attempting to reach some conclusions about Commonwealth virtual library development and the validity of the proposed model of virtual libraries. Flowing from this, recommendations are made for further research in this field.

Online searchers in Australia were studied through six sets of variables: backgrounds, experience, attitudes, behaviours, styles and satisfaction. A mailed questionnaire attracted a response rate of 84.5 per cent. Respondents were drawn equally from academic and special libraries. Those in special libraries tended to be more satisfied with their searches, and favoured adaptability but not preplanning. Those whose organisations levied charges appeared to search less often and to have less faith in controlled vocabularies. A minority with computational backgrounds tended to have more searching experience. Many respondents searched infrequently and had conducted low total numbers of searches. Those searching more often were less cost conscious, and more in favour of trial-and-error and reviewing retrieved titles. Searchers who had conducted more searches favoured trial-and-error , browsing and reviewing retrieved titles. Controlled vocabularies, adaptability (related to a disinclination to review retrieved titles), trial-and-error and browsing were favoured . Fidel's conceptualist style tended to be adopted by those favouring trial-and-error. Her operationalist style was considered routine and positively related to perceived user satisfaction with searches. Some concern about cost was related to a tendency to plan alternative strategies.

Magister Artium - MA
The purpose of the study is to investigate the history and development of the Cape Town City Libraries (CTCL) from 1952-1972 and examine the effect of apartheid legislation on establishing a public library system. The study looks at one library service, how it was established, how it adapted to the political and social forces of the time and the services it delivered. Data was sourced from the surviving CTCL archives, interviewing people who worked for CTCL and researching relevant material in the National Library and Archives. Public libraries have aims and functions which are underpinned by a philosophy of free and equal access to all and access to knowledge and books. IFLA defines a public library as an organization that: provides access to knowledge, information and works of imagination through a range of resources and services and is equally available to all members of the community regardless of race, nationality, age, gender, religion, language… (Koontz & Gubbins, 2010). Legislation introduced by the National Party enforced segregation and controlled access to knowledge and books which brought CTCL into conflict with library philosophy. This legislation determined who the CTCL could serve, where they could serve them and what they could serve them. The findings show that CTCL extended the library service to more people and increased the number of facilities, membership and circulation but in a segregated manner. Censorship legislation affected library stock but also induced self-censorship amongst librarians further restricting what was available to patrons. Staff were treated differently because of their racial group

The purpose of this research project was to ascertain data and information on the effect of censorship on the selection of media center materials in public elementary school libraries in Georgia. Random samples were sent to each of the 187 school systems in Georgia at the elementary level with a grade range of K-8. The data for the study is based on 101 responses with education, geographical location and district population serving as characteristics of a sample for selection. The significance of these characteristics was tabulated and verified. Although all the media specialists in the study had obtained some degree of certification and training, the results varied somewhat with the following: (1) media specialists in metropolitan and urban areas with advanced degrees were more liberal toward selection of censorship materials and,(2) media specialists in rural areas and those with the minimum degree requirements were more reluctant toward selecting censorship materials.

Creative spaces, or makerspaces, is an emerging and global phenomenon in libraries. The aim of this study is to examine the objectives that underlie the creative spaces in Australia, expressed by library professionals, as well as the purposes they fulfil in the library context. The material is derived from seven in-depth interviews with staff working with creative spaces at three public and one state library. Additionally, one observation was conducted in the creative space at each of these libraries. “The four spaces model”, created by Danish researchers Henrik Jochumsen, Casper Hvenegaard Rasmussen and Dorte Skot-Hansen, comprises the study's theoretical framework. According to the model, the library's objective is to support the goals: experience, involvement, empowerment and innovation. The library spaces, in which the goals should be supported, are the inspiration space, the learning space, the meeting space and the performative space. The study shows that the most distinct objectives of the creative spaces are experience and empowerment. Involvement and innovation are also present, but not as prominent. Further, the study shows that the purposes fulfilled by the creative spaces places them within the learning space and the meeting space, and to some degree in the inspiration space and the performative space. Findings reveal that creative spaces support STEM-based (science, technology, engineering and maths) learning and digital literacy through both collaborative and individual learning. The learning takes place in informal settings where play is a significant factor. The creative spaces function as “high-intensive” meeting places for the local community, and the library professionals highlight the importance of the social aspects of the creative spaces. This is a two years' master’s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies.

Esta pesquisa histórica tem como objetivo recuperar e reinterpretar dados sobre a relação estabelecida entre o poder oficial e a constituição da biblioteca pública no Brasil, especialmente durante os regimes de exceção: a Era Vargas e o Regime Militar. Entretanto, para contextualizar esse objeto, tivemos que estender essa linha do tempo para o passado, e recuperar as origens da prática censória à liberdade de expressão do pensamento, e para o futuro, em razão da tendência à reedição de ciclos, políticas e decisões oficiais cada vez mais sofisticadas para fazer frente às manifestações sociais que reivindicam práticas democráticas justas e igualitárias. Por meio de uma análise qualitativa, pudemos recuperar a gênese da formação do bibliotecário e da Biblioteconomia como área de atuação técnica e científica no Brasil. Destacamos também a importância da biblioteca pública como espaço para a preservação e acesso à diversidade de pensamento e acesso ao conhecimento plural e libertário. Explicitamos ainda a necessidade de desenvolvimento do potencial político tanto do profissional quanto desse campo do conhecimento que ainda deverá se tornar manifesto como alternativa nesta trajetória de contínua transformação e evolução na prestação de um serviço de utilidade pública e emancipação social.
This historical research has the objective to recover and reinterpret data about the relation established between the official power and the constitution of the public library in Brazil, especially during the regime of exception regime: Vargas Era and Military Regime. However, in order to contextualize this object, we had to extend this timeline to the past, and reclaim the origins of the censorship practice to freedom of thought, and to the future, due to the tendency of official reprint cycles, every time more sophisticated to be able to cope with the social manifestations that have claimed for democratic, fair and equalitarian practices. Through a qualitative analysis, we could recover the genesis of the training of librarians and Librarianship as an area of technical and scientific activities in Brazil. We also highlight the importance of the public library as a space for preservation and access to diversity of thought and access to knowledge plural and libertarian. We explain the need for developing the political potential of both the professional and this field of knowledge - which is yet to become clear - as an alternative course of this ongoing transformation and evolution in providing service of public utility and social emancipation.

This thesis is a history of the Sydney and Melbourne International Film Festivals, and covers the years from 1945 to 1972. Based primarily on archival material, it is an organisational history dealing with the attempts by the two Film Festivals to negotiate between the demands of �culture� and �industry� throughout this period. The thesis begins with a consideration of the origins of the Festivals in the post-war period �with the attempts by non-Hollywood producers to break into the cinema market, the collapse of the �mass audience�, and the growth of the film society movement in Australia. The thesis then examines the establishment in the early 1950s of the Sydney and Melbourne Festivals as small, amateur events, run by and for film enthusiasts. It then traces the Festivals� historical development until 1972, by which time both Festivals had achieved an important status as social and cultural organisations within Australia. The main themes dealt with throughout this period of development include the Festivals� difficult negotiations with both the international and domestic film trade, their ongoing internal debates over their role and purpose as cultural organisations, their responses to the appearance of other international film festivals in Australia, their relation to the Australian film industry, and their fight to liberalise Australia�s film censorship regulations.

This study is motivated by the need to look continually for ways to improve Griffith University’s learning assistance services so that they meet the changing needs of stakeholders and are at the same time cost-effective and efficient. This study uses the conceptual tools of cultural-historical activity theory and expansive visibilisation to investigate the development and transformation of learning assistance services at Griffith University, one of Australia's largest multi-campus universities. Cultural-historical activity is a powerful theoretical framework that acknowledges the importance of dimensions such as cultural context, local setting, collective understanding, and the influence of historical variables on interactions in settings. Expansive visibilisation is a practical four-stage process that was used in this study to make visible and analysable the work context of the Learning Assistance Unit. The study uses these conceptual tools to illustrate how learning assistance services at the University have moved through several stages of historical development and that historical variables, such as the political setting and physical location of services continue to influence current work practices. The investigation involved gathering data through interviews and focus group discussions with key stakeholders in order to map the University's Learning Assistance Unit as an activity system that appears to have separated out from the overall activity system of the University. It involved making visible problems and tensions in the activity system, and identifying ways of improving future practice. The study reveals problem clusters and underlying tensions amongst the interacting activity systems of the Learning Assistance Unit, faculty, library and student. These problem clusters relate to different understandings about the purpose of the Learning Assistance Unit and the role of the learning adviser, the difficulties in offering a quality service on a restricted budget, and tensions between contextualised and de-contextualised learning assistance. The study suggests that resolving these tensions depends on staff taking an active role in critically examining their practice, in particular the way that they collaborate with key stakeholders in the learning environment. The dissertation concludes by suggesting that one way forward is to expand the activity system on its socio-spatial, temporal, moral-ideological, and systemic-developmental dimensions (Engeström, 1999c).

In Malaysia, the government has invested in public libraries with the intention of promoting development, particularly in rural areas. Despite the increasing number of rural public libraries being built throughout Malaysia, providing users with many services, activities and programs, previous research indicates that they are underutilised. The research reported in this thesis aimed to explore relationships between rural public libraries and their communities in both Malaysia and Australia, with particular attention to empowerment and community development processes.

The aim of this thesis is to present the development and current state of information policy and public libraries in Cuba. The first part of thesis outlines historical and political development in Cuba since the beginning of the revolution in 1959 to the present and introduces the development of selected areas of information policy on the island. The second part analyzes the expansion of information and communication technologies, including Internet and its censorship. The last part of thesis summarizes historical development and current state of public libraries and partially librarianship.

Dissertação de mestrado em Informação, Comunicação e Novos Media, apresentada à Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra
O presente trabalho é, antes de mais, um diagnóstico sobre a censura, liberdade intelectual e selecção de documentos nas bibliotecas públicas municipais portuguesas. Para esta investigação foi lançado um inquérito em 2010 aos responsáveis das já mencionadas bibliotecas. Mediante inquérito e revisão da literatura a presente investigação foi estruturada em quatro grandes núcleos. O primeiro procede a uma definição dos vários papéis que as bibliotecas públicas assumem actualmente, já que a ênfase dada a determinados papéis pode influenciar o modo como cada biblioteca lida com a liberdade intelectual e, por conseguinte, com a censura. Num segundo momento, foram analisadas as questões relacionadas com a gestão e o desenvolvimento de colecções, nomeadamente os elementos que mais influenciam os bibliotecários no momento de seleccionar novos documentos. O terceiro núcleo incidiu sobre as colecções como instrumentos ideológicos e a questão do pluralismo das colecções. Interessou saber se existe abertura da parte dos bibliotecários em incorporar nas colecções materiais considerados controversos, ou se, pelo contrário, tais materiais são censurados pelos próprios bibliotecários. Por fim, a análise de um conjunto de questões relacionadas com a manutenção da liberdade intelectual e as diversas pressões que são exercidas sobre as colecções e os diversos serviços prestados pelas bibliotecas públicas. Pressões essas, em que, normalmente, intervêm políticos, utilizadores e bibliotecários. Constatou-se que existem múltiplas e diversas pressões exercidas, quer da parte dos utilizadores ou quer da parte dos executivos camarários. Merece, todavia, destaque a espantosa e pouco ortodoxa conclusão que actualmente são os bibliotecários os principais censores.
This work aims to present a diagnosis about censorship, intellectual freedom and book selection in the Portuguese public libraries. For this research it was launched a survey to the heads of the referred libraries during 2010.This research made use of a survey and a research literature and was structured in four main parts. The first one precedes the definition of the different roles assumed by public libraries nowadays, once that the emphasis given to certain roles might influence the way as each library deals with intellectual freedom and, therefore with censorship. In a second moment, questions related with management and collection development were analysed, namely those elements that have mainly influenced librarians in the selection of new documents. The third part coincides with the collections as ideological instruments and the question about pluralism regarding them. There was interest in knowing if the librarians are opened to integrate materials to be considerate controversial in their collections or, if by the contrary, those materials are censured by the librarians themselves. Finally, the analysis of a set of questions related with the maintenance of intellectual freedom and several forms of pressure exercised upon the collections and several services delivered by the public libraries. Those pressures are normally exercised by politicians, user and librarians. This research concludes that there are many and different pressures exercised, from either the users or the city council authorities. However, special attention should be paid to the amazing little orthodox conclusion witch stresses the role of librarians as the main censors.

Political and educational role of public libraries in the 50 and 60 years in Ostrava region The thesis is focused on cultural politics of the communist regime in the 50s and 60s of the 20th century in relation to public libraries. Based on archival materials the main attention is paid to the situation in the Ostrava region Cultural policy was aimed in two directions. First through repression, when citizens were banned from access to ideas and works that the regime considered as harmful or objectionable. This activity was implemented by censorship of printed materials, sorting of collections and persecution of opponents. Second way to filling the gaps after undesirable denied authors by pro-regime publications, written in the style of socialist realism. Public libraries were using different sorts of methods how to bring readers to this new literature and how to bring them up to be loyal and conscious builders of socialism - e.g. discussions and reader's conferences, literature contests and polls, Fucik's badge, Month of books and so on. The focus is also on libraries promotion of actions and activities supporting the policy of the Party and the government, such as celebrations of party anniversary, recruitment in mining, atheistic education of readers etc.

Cette étude dresse le portrait des collections de littérature jeunesse à contenu LGBTQ dans les bibliothèques publiques québécoises afin de déterminer si la population est bien servie à cet égard, peu importe le lieu et la taille de la collectivité. Pour ce faire, nous avons adopté une approche qualitative et utilisé la méthode de l’évaluation par liste. Ainsi, les collections de 41 bibliothèques publiques municipales ont été examinées au moyen d’une liste de vérification de 38 titres de littérature jeunesse à contenu LGBTQ publiés de 2003 à 2018. Les données recueillies ont fait l’objet d’une analyse statistique surtout descriptive. À l’instar d’études antérieures sur les collections des bibliothèques canadiennes et américaines, la présente recherche a montré que le niveau de présence de la littérature jeunesse à contenu LGBTQ varie considérablement selon les bibliothèques et que la taille des populations, l’importance des collections et le budget consacré aux livres ne suffisent pas à expliquer toutes les fluctuations. L’analyse des données a aussi permis de révéler que les romans à contenu LGBTQ destinés aux ados étaient beaucoup plus susceptibles de figurer dans les collections que les albums et les premiers romans destinés aux enfants. De plus, l’analyse a montré que le thème de l’homosexualité masculine était largement représenté dans les collections, tandis que celui de l’homoparentalité était considérablement sous-représenté. Pourtant, selon les données recueillies, les albums pour enfants sur le thème de l’homoparentalité sont justement le type de matériel qui était le plus emprunté dans les bibliothèques au moment de l’étude. Cette étude exploratoire ne permet pas de conclure avec certitude que les collections de littérature jeunesse à contenu LGBTQ dans les bibliothèques québécoises sont suffisantes et appropriées. Toutefois, la comparaison des résultats obtenus avec ceux d’autres recherches suggère que, dans l’ensemble, les bibliothèques québécoises font plutôt bien à cet égard.
The purpose of this study is to examine the stocks of young adult and children’s literature collections with LGBTQ content made available in Québec public libraries to determine whether the population is sufficiently provided for, regardless of the location and size of the city or town where they live. To carry out this research project, we used the checklist evaluation method. Collections from a sample of 41 municipal public libraries were thus examined, using a checklist of 38 young adult and children’s literature titles with LGBTQ content, published from 2003 to 2018. The collected data was subjected to statistical analysis. As with previous studies of Canadian and American public library collections, this research has shown that the level of presence of young adult and children’s literature with LGBTQ content varies considerably in all libraries, and that the size of populations, the size of collections and the budgets for printed books can’t explain all the fluctuations. Data analysis also revealed that novels with LGBTQ content for teenagers were much more likely to be held in collections than early readers’ novels and children’s picture books. The results have also shown that male homosexuality as a theme is well represented in the collections, while same sex parenthood is significantly underrepresented. However, according to the data, the picture books for children on the topic of same-sex parenthood are exactly the type of material which was the most borrowed in the sampled libraries at the time of the study. This exploratory study alone does not entirely support the conclusion that collections of young adult and children’s literature with LGBTQ content in Québec public libraries are sufficient and appropriate. However, comparing results from this research to those from other researches suggests that, overall, Quebec libraries seem to be doing well in this regard.