Culture Morph

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The Digital Library

Culture Morph

6/1/2007

By Susan D. Heid

Council on Library and Information Resources, within the universe of US liberal arts colleges there are only about three dozen or so CIOs leading merged Library and IT groups. That puts Johnson in an ideal position to offer advice to any CIO considering a blended organization for a smaller campus: Head over to the campus library and ask for help, he says simply. "I guarantee that every CIO has an issue that could be improved if only he or she were to ask for help from a librarian. Nothing tells people you value them more than asking them for help."

Librarian Sensibilities Elevate IT

At Earlham College (IN), there's a solid appreciation for the impact the librarian viewpoint can have on IT; in fact, it trickles down from the top, where both IT and library leadership reside in the same person-- Thomas Kirk. Kirk was educated as a librarian, and holds the posts of library director and coordinator of information services for the 1,250-student institution. He points out that the CLIR counts only 30 or 40 institutions of higher education where one individual handles the two jobs simultaneously--yet even those, he says, are generally situational instances, "having to do with the nature and culture of the organization."

Why isn't the blended role more common? Beyond the culture gap that exists between the two functions is the perception each group has of the other, he explains. CIOs need to understand that "When the librarians bring you what appear to be tough issues, they are reflecting the users' needs; what the patrons are asking for." Kirk points out that although CIOs sometimes are tempted to respond with the knee-jerk reaction of "Why we can't do it," they need to understand where the expectation is actually coming from (the campus community), and then "figure out how it can best be done." Likewise, his advice to librarians: "Don't fall into the stereotypes about computing people. Understand what their values are and what they mean by 'service.' That's where the conflict [between librarians and IT people] grows from," he maintains.

Maybe that's why, when Kirk describes the librarian role at Earlham, the terms "facilitator" or "liaison" come to mind. At the college, librarians have evolved to act as the middleware between faculty and IT. "Librarians are more concerned with what's going on in the curriculum," and that's important, says Kirk. Their role is to ask, "How can the library support teaching and learning on campus? How do we help students and faculty navigate the world of print and digital resources?"

Now, with the recent explosion in the use of technology as part of the teaching and learning process, the need for a liaison between the campus community and IT is even greater. "Usually when faculty are looking at the new technologies, they're looking at ways to enhance what they're already doing," says Kirk. "It used to be that the students did research and wrote a term paper. Now they do research and create a poster, a class presentation, or a podcast."