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The information needs of local union officials
Library Trends, Summer, 2002 by Margaret A. Chaplan, Edward J. Hertenstein
ABSTRACT
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A QUESTIONNAIRE WAS DISTRIBUTED tO local union officials in a Midwestern state in order to determine the information needs of local union officials and how they go about satisfying those needs. It was hypothesized that the institutional roles (such as negotiator, grievance handler, administrator, organizer, educator, and political worker) or individual roles (such as educational certification, personal problem-solving, writing, and communication) inhabited by these officials would determine the information sources used, whether formal (such as libraries, union research departments, union publications, and databases) or informal (such as personal networks, telephone inquiries, and local office files). It was also hypothesized that training in how to do research would affect the number and diversity of information sources used. Partial support was found for all these hypotheses. While many of the union roles showed similar rates of needs, there were enough differences to support the hypothesis that union role determines information needs. The data also show that the type of information need helps predict the information sources used and thus that union role predicts information source used. Finally, training has a positive effect on the number of information sources used and on the number of formal sources used. Comparisons to previous research are made and suggestions for further research are presented.
INTRODUCTION
The study of the information-seeking behavior of researchers and scholars has a long history; in the case of scientists and engineers, reaching back almost fifty years. User studies in the social sciences and humanities have almost as long a pedigree, and substantial attention has also been paid to the study of information use by persons in professions such as social work, education, business, and medicine. Only recently has attention begun to shift to investigations of the information-seeking behavior of ordinary citizens in their work or daily life or of persons who have not had training in research or information seeking, although some early studies examined information needs of disadvantaged populations.
User studies have also generally focused on information provision--that is, the nature and variety of collections and services available--or information use--that is, the various types of sources examined--rather than on the information needs for which these sources are consulted. Although published thirty years ago, the statement by Faibisoff and Ely (1971) that "the bulk of studies purporting to examine information needs have in fact evaluated the effectiveness of information delivery systems" (p. 5) is still valid. The purpose for which the information is to be used and how this might affect the nature of the information sources used and the individual's information-seeking behavior has not generally been investigated, perhaps because, in the case of scholars and professional workers, the intended use appeared relatively obvious.
Studies of information use by union members and officials have followed this same pattern. Beginning with the burgeoning of union membership in the late 1930s and intensified by the establishment of the Joint Committee on Library Service to Labor Groups of the American Library Association (ALA) and the American Federation of Labor (now the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations [AFL-CIO]) in 1945, a series of studies has looked at the collections of labor materials in (mostly) public libraries and the services provided by the libraries to labor groups. These studies are generally surveys of the size and contents of special labor collections in the libraries and the types of reference and outreach services the libraries provide. The paper by Imhoff and Brandwein (1977) is a typical example. Backhouse's study (1982) is representative of a similar line of investigation in Great Britain.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Little empirical research on local union officials and their information needs has been undertaken. The earliest found (Harper, 1963) was a survey of thirty-nine local union officers who were attending a union leadership training program at the University of Chicago. Among other questions, respondents were asked to rank a list of ten possible public library services in order of their value to the local union and to indicate whether they had used a public library in connection with union work. The service ranked most highly by the officers was providing background information to support collective bargaining. Some union officers said they had used reference materials in the library, had read materials on issues of interest to unions, and had gathered information to be used in publications or union educational programs.
Labor education program students were also surveyed by Clinton (1983) and Shields (1983). Clinton surveyed 129 shop stewards and safety representatives in three cities of different sizes in England who had participated in Trades Union Congress-sponsored labor education programs. In addition to questions about the use of specific types of materials, Clinton asked respondents to indicate which activities they had been involved in as trade union representatives in the previous year and how they obtained necessary information. In general, the officials sought information about specific and immediate workplace problems and for collective bargaining. Shields (1983) reports, from an earlier study of sixty-seven labor education students in England, that most of their information needs related to collective bargaining and that they required practical, problem-oriented information geared to local conditions.
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