IT- Library Collaboration and IT-Library Mergers

This study aims to look at the impact for users on university library and information technology services, present and future, following merger. The study examined user survey data from the early 1990s through the 2006 LibQUAL survey, collected information through interviews with faculty and Information Services, and examined the National Science Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies reports on cyberinfrastructure. The paper finds that while the merged information services organization is not yet a resounding success from the perspectives of staff in information services or faculty, it is a brave attempt to respond to the future.

Disruptive changes affect all teaching and learning activities at institutions of higher education. Support organizations, especially the library and IT organizations, are often the first to react to but risk being overwhelmed by these changes. Rather than simply react to change, this session will argue that libraries and IT organizations need to define their own futures.

Many library/IT mergers have been successful and achieved true converge. Others have moved along slowly or faltered. In this session, we will examine the challenges of leadership in such mergers and present strategies for success. The session will include case studies and allow ample time for discussion about the topic.

Technologists and librarians are discovering that intelligent organizational overlap is the route to the digital library of the future.

This research bulletin discusses how leaders at the University of Kansas merged the Libraries and Information Technology into an Information Services department using well-documented strategies for enabling collaboration, group decision making, and mentoring of new leaders. It describes the challenges—and successes—related to making rapid changes in organizational structure, staffing, and services while remaining engaged with users and delivering technology services that were not necessarily tied to organizational boundaries.

Presentation at the November 2004 ECAR Symposium. The University of Kansas presents the results of its project to integrate IT and library functions with the goal of focusing on student success.