1947—1949年美国“公共图书馆调查”研究——方法、成果和历史影响

A Study on the 1947-1949 U.S. “The Public Library Inquiry”——Methodology,Findings,and Historic Influence

1947—1949年的"公共图书馆调查"是美国公共图书馆在二战后最大规模、最客观、最彻底和最系统的一次公共图书馆调查活动。该调查采用当时最先进的社会科学研究方法,对美国公共图书馆的生存状况和存在的问题进行了摸底,并以大众传媒为背景,为公共图书馆的未来发展提出了众多具有历史意义的建设性意见,是美国现代公共图书馆发展史上具有深远影响的调查事件。本文就该次调查的方法、成果、历史影响分别进行阐述和评论,以填补国内对此重大调查事件的研究空白。

“The Public Library Inquiry” between 1947 and 1949 is the largest-scale, the most objective, and the most thorough and systematic inquiry about the American public libraries ever done after the Second World War. Applying the most advanced research methodology in social sciences and putting American public libraries on the background of the development of the mass media, the inquiry depicted their situations and their problems and brought forward many historic constructive recommendations and suggestions for their future development. It has been the most far-reaching inquiry in the modern history of the American public libraries. This article elaborates on its research methodology, findings, and historical influence, so as to introduce this fundamental inquiry to public library researchers in China and fill in such a gap.