IT and the Library

Which IT Group Should Take on the Work?

Association of College and Research Libraries President Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe listed off common IT functions performed in a typical institutional library. CT asked Chico State CIO Bill Post which of these functions could be moved to a central IT organization and which ones should probably stay with library IT. As the table below demonstrates, Post believes the functions should follow the skills.

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IT Function

Central IT

Library IT

Notes

Administer and manage workstations and networks

X

Act as liaison between library staff and campus IT people

X

Perform system admin, configuration, and maintenance for large research databases, local and online

X

X

Depends on staff skills

Manage access to library resources through proxy servers for remote access

X

X

Depends on staff skills

Participate in digitization projects, such as Google Book Project

X

Library leadership, but may depend on staff skills

Develop systems for electronic deposit of theses and dissertations

X

Library leadership, but may depend on staff skills

Create and support the institutional repository for faculty publications and other works

X

Library leadership, but may depend on staff skills

Support library business transaction systems for book and subscriptions purchasing and e-commerce for receiving payments

X

Library leadership, but may depend on staff skills

Integrate library systems with university apps for accessing current enrollment and employment data and managing HR

X

X

Depends on staff skills

 

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