Academic libraries as learning organisations

Abstract

This paper highlights some of the deficiencies with Higher Education (HE) planning paradigms and then describes the Holon Framework as an HE planning approach that overcomes some of the deficiencies. The paper outlines some key features from the literature of organisational learning and explores how the Holon Framework facilitates both single and double-loop organisational learning. The paper then describes how the Holon Framework can be used as a strategic and operational planning tool with academic libraries and how the more conventional library operational research models can be included in a structured double loop learning process.