Trends in library management

Ward, Patricia Layzell

doi:10.1108/00242530010354047

Cited by 10 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 8 publications

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“…Dewey suggested that the American Library Association's motto should be "the best reading for the greatest number at the least cost" (Ranganathan 1938, 156) and Ranganathan noted that economy would always be a mediating concern in the practice of librarianship (1938,55). In recent decades, LIS literature has often cited the rapid advancement of technological change as a key driver for the revision of library operations (De Klerk and Euster 1989;Williams 1995;Ward 2000;Wilson and Halpin 2006;Marty 2010;Ellis et al 2014). The ongoing shift from print-centred to digitally focused collections, and from locally stored paper catalogues to networked electronic metadata, is a driver.…”

Section: Digital Organizationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Digital Disease in Academic Libraries

Joseph

2020

Can. J. Acad. Lib.

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This article uses organizational design and management literature to shed critical light on a peculiar quirk of academic library organizational structures: the existence of job titles and departments that exist to highlight “digital” functions and workflows. An exploration of the literature along four interrelated themes provides insight into the origin of the problem: organizational design theory and the arrangement of work in academic libraries; the reliance on strategic alignment through buzzwords as a means of coping with uncertainty; the tendency of academic library structures to resemble one another; and challenges associated with knowledge sharing and professional development in hierarchical organizations. These contexts frame the symptoms of The Digital Disease, all of which are derived from the convergence of the article’s four thematic preconditions. Though the disease is the lens through which contemporary academic library organization is analyzed, its existence serves to highlight pre-existing patterns in academic library management that warrant further scrutiny.

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Section: Digital Organizationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Digital Disease in Academic Libraries

Joseph

2020

Can. J. Acad. Lib.

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Creating customer value in the not-for-profit sector: a case study of the British Library

Warnaby

Finney

2005

Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark.

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*Public sector organisations are being increasingly subjected to both legislative and competitive pressures forcing them to reconsider their relationships with users and customers (Chapman and Cowdell, 1998) in order to develop a more overt marketing orientation (defined as focusing on customer needs as the primary drivers of organisational performance (Jobber, 2004)). The creation of customer value underlies the development of a meaningful marketing orientation, and is a nettle that more public sector and not-for-profit organisations will have to grasp. This article considers how a more marketing-oriented approach was adopted by the British Library in order to clarify and communicate its value proposition to its identified target markets, and in doing so, hopefully achieving a sustainable competitive advantage on an ongoing basis.

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