The Influence Of The Reading Of The Young Reports On Librarians' Writings Was Significant

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Caroline Hewins was director of the Hartford Library when she was asked to give a report at the 1882 American Library Association (ALA) conference on the reading of young people. In response to this request, Hewins sent a query out to her fellow librarians across the country and took out a few newspaper ads that she hoped would reach others concerned with children and reading. Her one-sentence query was simple, direct, and reflected a cultural concern that children receive proper guidance in their reading and other aspects of their young lives. She asked her colleagues: "What are you doing to encourage a love of good reading in boys and girls" She received twenty-five replies, and for her 1882 report at the ALA conference, she described her research process, gave the names and locations of respondents, and summarized or included short excerpts of their statements. She concluded with a summary consisting of Cartier Jewelry seven claims that could be derived from these statements. This report marked the beginning of systematic research in the field of librarianship; ...
... it was the first of a series of eight reports, presented from 1882 to 1898, that used survey methods to assess the state of public library services to youth.

Hewins was one of seven people asked to give reports on various topics at that 1882 ALA conference. She was the only woman, and she was the only one of the seven to use survey research or indeed any empirical evidence upon which to base her conclusions. From 1882 to 1885, Hewins and her colleagues Mary Bean and Hannah James were the only presenters at ALA conferences to use surveys to gather evidence. By 1886, other librarians, male and female, began to Jewelry Store adapt the use of surveys for reports on many topics in librarianship. However, these basic survey techniques were disproportionately used by women, who constituted approximately 20 percent of professional librarians at this time. There are many possible explanations for women's development of this research model in the early years of librarianship, which are explored below. Previous to these reports, professional library discourse was based on the opinions of esteemed experts in the field whose knowledge derived from experience in their own libraries.

The survey research model that Hewins and other women introduced to librarianship used questionnaires to compile reports, which consisted of qualitative replies and later quantitative statistics. This model changed the discourse of librarianship in two ways. First, it introduced the use of empirical evidence as the basis for librarians' claims about the field of librarianship during this formative period. Second, it paved the way for the development of collaborative discourse by significantly expanding the number, gender, and geographic dispersal of voices that were represented in professional publications. Acclaimed leaders and lesser known librarians were represented side by side, and replies were attributed to each questionnaire respondent. This provided an alternative to the model of individual expertise as the source of evidence about the profession.