Blending Libraries and IT Organizations

Thursday, January 31, at 12 noon, U.S. Eastern time

Eugene L. Spencer is an independent consultant in Danville, Pa., who advises college on how to manage and organize their information-technology and library departments. He led a merged library and IT organization as associate vice president for information services and resources at Bucknell University, where he oversaw computing services, library services, networking, instructional technology, enterprise information systems, library collections, information access, and telecommunications.

A transcript of the chat follows.

Andrea Foster (Moderator):
    Hello, and welcome to our weekly Brown Bag discussion. Today we're going to be talking about integrated library and information technology organizations with Gene Spencer. Mr. Spencer is an independent consultant and led a merged library-IT unit at Bucknell University. Thanks for joining us, Gene.

Eugene L. Spencer:
    In a few short decades, we have witnessed ways in which technology has improved the ability of the library to serve its community. Great libraries instinctively know how to apply new technologies to the benefit of students, faculty and staff. During that same time, we have also seen IT organizations mature and improve the quality of their services and resources. Great IT organizations instinctively know how to react to new opportunities and cast a vision of how they can benefit students, faculty and staff. At their best, both organizations understand how to scan their horizons, gather campus feedback, create excellent service, build collaborative relationships, develop their staffs professionally, and create a vision for alignment, improvement and change. There is significant overlap in these efforts and between the work of these organizations.

I have been working at or near the intersection of information technology and the library during my entire career, and have come to believe that the most important question for a campus to consider is "how can we take advantage of the natural synergy that should exist between the Library and IT to benefit students, faculty and staff?"

I contend that the possibility of a library/IT merger (whatever that might mean for a campus) is not the important "question". I would rather see a campus focus on how to create an environment in which the Library and IT become committed partners in collaboration. Without effective and sustained collaboration between these critical organizations (at institutions large or small), opportunities will be missed, resources will be wasted, and service to the students, faculty and staff will (in some ways) be less than they might be.

Question from Darci Jones, Mercyhurst College:
    Can you provide an overview of your new organizational chart?

Eugene L. Spencer:
    I'd like to start out by saying that there is no single "right way" to organize a merged library and IT organization on a particular campus. Many mergers contain groups that look similar to those found in traditional library or IT organizations (e.g. reference, help desk, systems & networking or technical services); these structures are comfortable to people and they understand what they mean. Other institutions have taken a creative approach with totally new structures cutting across traditional lines; these structures are new, dynamic and future-oriented (e.g. decision support, content management or discovery services). Local situations must dictate the "right approach". How much change is enough?

Question from Duane, small liberal arts college:
    I know many librarians who know a great deal about technology, but have yet to encounter many IT folks who know much about libraries. It would therefore seem most logical to me to put a technology-savvy librarian in charge of a blended organization. I am wondering if our guest can comment on which direction blended organizations traditionally go (IT or librarian in charge) and the benefits and draw backs of each.

Eugene L. Spencer:
    I've been working within a merged organization for over a decade and around mergers for several years before that. Initially, the vast majority of merged organizations were led by someone with a library background. Now, that seems to be balancing to some degree. The real issue for selection of a leader is whether an institution has (or can attract) someone who is knowledgeable about the roles of both the library and IT organizations, and who can also effectively lead change and create a new organizational culture from the two. Casting a new future vision, enhancing collaboration, focusing on emerging student & faculty needs, and encouraging professional development are attributes that can come from either side of the merger.

Question from Andrea Foster:
     What kind of skills does a leader need to have to be successful at leading an integrated library-IT organization?

Eugene L. Spencer:
    I believe that the important skills at play in such an integration are more related to the development of the organization rather than the historical technology or library skills. How one manages change, creates a common set of values, helps people understand the ways in which the organizations are similar rather than different... Skills like this can lead to success. Conversely, not paying attention to these issues can lead to frustration and even failure.

Question from Matt McLernon, consultant:
    Is there one major tech obstacle you're seeing that's prohibiting the IT/library merger?

Eugene L. Spencer:
    Interesting question Matt. I don't believe there is a major technical obstacle in a merger. Rather, I think the obstacles are more around perceptions of "the other organization" and reasons that they might accomplish more together. Paying attention to the change process is critical. I'm not sure we in higher education think about managing change as much as we should/could.

Question from Stacy Nowicki, Kalamazoo College:
    Gene, how much do you think "culture" (library culture, IT culture, college-wide culture) has to do with the success of a blended Library/IT organization?

Eugene L. Spencer:
    Stacy, for a long time at BU, we wondered which of the original cultures would prevail. The cultures of the IT organization and the library seemed so different. After wandering around in that issue for awhile, we came to realize that there were important strengths and weaknesses of each culture. We set out to create a new culture that brought together the strengths of both. Once we created a common set of values (jointly held), the culture started to unify.

Comment from Greg Diment, Kalamazoo College:
    At Kalamazoo College, we've had a merged organization since 1997. Our original head was actually from neither side, but rather came through the Media Services organization. My background is in IT, and we have an extremely capable Library Director. Together it works well.

Question from Cerise Oberman, SUNY Plattsburgh:
    In your experience with Bucknell, what were the major obstacles that needed to be resolved in building a collaborative/merged organization?

Eugene L. Spencer:
    In any merger, the members of the two organizations need to see each other differently, get beyond any "transgressions of the past" and realize that "we're really doing this to benefit students, faculty and staff." The obstacles tend to be more cultural than anything. Participants also need to think differently about their own skills. At BU, each group had a great deal of pride in the skills that help them do their job (library or technical). We had to spend time on a different set of skills. Some call them people skills or soft skills. We called them collaborative skills. They were critical for us.

Question from Katherine at small liberal arts college:
    I was surprised that the article in the Chronicle dwelt so much on stereotypical contrasts (pony-tailed young men in IT and older women as librarians). Could you comment on this.

Eugene L. Spencer:
    I think that the stereotypes presented in the article were unfortunate and a bit "dated", but they (the stereotypes) exist at almost all institutions, in one way or another. If organizational change is managed well, the stereotypes melt away, and we can get down to people respecting each other and collaborating well.

Question from Doug Elias, Wells College:
    You mention "the natural synergy that should exist between the Library and IT" ... do you have a vision for what that is, what it should be based on, what makes that synergy "natural"? Or is this, no offense, something like "in the best of all possible worlds"?

Eugene L. Spencer:
    At a general level, IT and library organizations have a lot in common. They are service organizations. They utilize significant amounts of institutional resources. They are continually "inflicting change" on the campus community (I say that "tongue in cheek"). They are critical to the success of students, faculty and staff. In addition, most new advances in information access involve technology (at some level), and much of what technology is being used for provides access to information (at some level). I'll also answer this with a question... who should be responsible for the multitude of Web 2.0 applications, the library, the IT, both, or neither?

Comment from Michael Berman, Art Center College of Design:
    I'll like to suggest that the word "merged" and the word "blended" have different connotations, and that for many institutions "blending" is the way to go. At our college, the Library and the Technology organizations report to the same leader, but each has a unique identity. We are looking opportunistically for joint ventures that blend expertise from the two areas and yield positive synergies. In this way the Library and Technology staff members are learning to work together and have positive experiences. A "merger" suggests something that gets done to you by external forces, and it's rarely pleasant, and in my experience often fails.

Question from Barbara L. Pittman, Mercyhurst College:
    Is it historically more difficult to create a successful and comfortable merger under a new leader hired specifically for the position or under someone promoted from inside the institution?

Eugene L. Spencer:
    Barbara, this is a great question and needs to be considered in the context of the institution. I think there are particular attributes (skills, approaches, etc.) required from the leader of a "successful and comfortable merger". Are those attributes already present on campus? I have seen great mergers where both departments came together under an existing leader of one. I've also seen them fail. I have seen great mergers under a new leader hired from off campus. I have also seen them flounder. Changing organizational cultures require a different kind of leader, wherever that person may come from.

Question from Dawn Thistle, Assumption College:
    To what extent do you feel that a successful merged organization is dependent up physical co-location of staff and services?

Eugene L. Spencer:
    I collaborated on an article in 2004 that talks about this. I'll point you to EDUCAUSE Review: Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts: The Integrated IT/Library Organization, by Chris Ferguson, Gene Spencer, and Terry Metz, EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 39, no. 3 (May/June 2004): 38-47. The location of staff is one dimension that you must deal with in any organization. There is great benefit in having IT co-located within the library (whether the organizations are merged or not). Similarly, there are special challenges of not having your organization co-located. It creates new challenges, but it is not a "show stopper."

Question from Mike, small liberal arts college:
    Can you talk about the pace of change? And how to make sure you're proceeding at a good rate, but not going too fast?

Eugene L. Spencer:
    Mike, this is a critical issue for any organizational change effort and depends a lot on the situation in place. How much change can people take at once? Were they prepared for the change? What are the issues bringing about change? Are crises on the horizon that the organization needs to respond to? How do we help people through the change process effectively. The leader needs to challenge the organization and help them respond to the challenge. Timing is a huge part of that responsibility. It will almost always be too fast for some and too slow for others.

Question from Diane S. , Professional school:
    How does such a blended organization serve an institution's goals in terms of distance education?

Eugene L. Spencer:
    Diane, I think that the blending of services would be even more important in a distance education situation. There are special challenges supporting learners at a distance. If you are creating a student-centric service, you'll want to minimize the gaps between IT and library service (as you see them). In many cases, the person on the other end won't see the differences between these services and will be frustrated by the gaps.

Question from Paul, small liberal arts college:
    What are some of the most constructive and transformative things that you have seen upper administrators (above either IT or Library)do to create the kind of collaboration you describe.

Eugene L. Spencer:
    Important question Paul. The senior staff can support the collaborative efforts in many ways. They can express a desire for collaboration/integration and help the campus see why it is important. They can allow the organization room to explore and give permission to fail (on occasion). They can provide flexibility by allowing resources to be moved freely between parts of the organization and they can help students, faculty, alumni and others see the value.

Question from Jonathan Miller, Rollins College, FL:
    I think it is clear what a closer working relationship between IT and library brings to the Library, but what does it bring to IT? More importantly, what value is added to the wider institution and our users?

Eugene L. Spencer:
    This is an important question that the staffs of each organization will ask in such collaboration - "what's in it for me?" It's an important question. It should be clear that the library can (and should) gain access to splendid technology. Everyone wins with that. The tougher question is what do the IT staff gain. I think that question may be different on each campus, but here is what I have found. The library usually has a great reputation for service, and they typically have very good relationships with faculty. Their lessons and their relationships can help IT in many ways. They also have a great tool called "the reference interview", which is something that IT can learn from.

Question from Perry Werner, Minnesota State Community and Technical College:
    Are there any instances where larger entities such as states with state college systems are considering developing mergers and libraries

Eugene L. Spencer:
    Perry, I am not aware of any, but that doesn't mean it isn't happening.

Question from Mike Wood, public research university:
    I don't hear much discussion about the fact that there are often three cultures on a campus--the librarians, the computing staff, and the media staff (responding to classroom needs and instructional design). I don't think that librarians or computer technicians, typically, have experience in designing multimedia classrooms, shooting/editing video, or building on-line courses. The media folks often seem overlooked as potential leaders; yet they are integral to information access, creation, and management. Your reaction?

Eugene L. Spencer:
    Mike, the media folks definitely play a key role in this. In many of the institutions I which I am aware, the media staff are either a part of the library or a part of IT (in some cases, they report to something like an associate dean). However, they are really at the intersection of integration - they deal with content and technology on a regular basis. They see the frustration of service separation and can benefit from service integration, collaboration or merger. At BU, further integrating media into our overall organization was one of the first benefits we captured. By the way, I am aware of one very successful leader of a merged operation that came from the media organization.

Question from Chris Loring, Smith College:
    Gene, Clearly there are synergies to be found between academic computing and libraries. Where do you see the synergies with administrative computing and others in a merged organization, as administrative computing serves a somewhat different customer base?

Eugene L. Spencer:
    Chris, there are parts of the IT organization that are not obvious players in the library/IT integration, and you've named one of them. In my experience, the most significant changes happen in the academic computing/library space. But, there are disadvantages to leaving parts of computing out of the mix. Many institutions used to have a separate administrative computing group that reported to the chief financial officer and an academic computing group that reported to the chief academic officer. This division usually created inefficiencies and many institutions merged them somewhere along the way. It's important to have them in this mix, especially now when our ERP systems are playing an increasingly important role in the web functions we're offering to the campus.

Question from Tom Henderson, Millsaps College:
    I can see much common ground between Library public services and the IT user services like Helpdesk. But I don't see much common ground between the library and the part of IT that concerns the larger campus infrastructure. Does it make sense to combine library and IT user services, leaving infrastructure as a separate unit?

Eugene L. Spencer:
    Tom, this is similar to the question that Chris (from Smith) asked. Some campuses have approached it in the way you suggest (with front-line IT services and/or instructional technology integrating with the library). However, wherever you draw a line, you create inefficiencies and communication problems. If you leave infrastructure separate, will the infrastructure respond to the needs of the other organization? It can work, but you would need to develop that special commitment.

Question from Andria, small liberal arts college:
    Are there new positions that are generally created to help manage a Library-IT merger? Or perhaps there are major modifications to the responsibilities of a few existing employees?

Eugene L. Spencer:
    Andria, my personal approach was to look for opportunities to think about new roles and new positions, letting the staff know that it was ok to be creative. I personally created a position called Director of Service Integration. That was creative for that time. However, the staff at BU got more creative when it came to new initiatives (e.g. digital projects) and new services (e.g. 24x7 online services). Once the organizational boundaries became less important, creative minds responded to emerging needs.

Question from Casey Ashe, Tulsa Community College:
    Could you also address differences in perspectives, functions and protocols between academic libraries and IT and how these issues are addressed? I am specifically thinking about how library staff are generally more content oriented (and to degrees familiar with software solutions to achieve information objectives). On the other hand, IT tends to be more focused upon the technical aspects: hardware & software implementations and troubleshooting technical problems. I have not seen much evidence of knowledge management and looking for efficient information flows on the IT side of colleges.

Eugene L. Spencer:
    Casey, in many ways, you have described both the frustrations of an unmerged/unblended/uncollaborative setting and the possible benefit from merging/blending/collaborating. There is so much that we can learn from each other. Skills grow. Perspectives broaden. Jobs expand. The students, faculty and staff benefit, while people can have more meaningful jobs.

Question from Jeff Bullington, University of Kansas, public research university:
    The Chronicle article notes, and I've heard similar comments by others, that this type of blending/merging might be difficult if not impossible at larger institutions (because of size, complexity, etc.). What are your thoughts and observations on this? What might be some of the particular challenges and 'watch points' for larger institutions (and the same for smaller institutions)?

Eugene L. Spencer:
    Jeff, I do not have personal experience in a setting of that magnitude, but I can speculate. One of the benefits of merging/blending is the possibility of leveraging limited resources more creatively. Are resources limited at larger institutions? I think that the kind of organizational change we are talking about is tougher as the number of people increases. However, with the right commitment and the necessary attention to the change process, I don't believe there is a reason why it can't work.

Question from Bill Reynolds, NJIT:
    Is there a common set of characteristics that describe many of the institutions that have merged or blended?

Eugene L. Spencer:
    Bill, at several institutions, such a change happened because one or both of the traditional organizations was in some form of difficulty. The merger happened to solve a problem. In other cases, the merger was meant to create an opportunity focused on future needs. Thankfully, that was the case at BU. I think the common characteristics that might be at play would be a desire to better serve the student, faculty and staff, a willingness to take risks, and a commitment to long-term possibilities.

Question from Beth, private research university:
    I'm interested in the change that professionals working in integrated library / IT organizations can effect in their respective professional communities. Have you seen evidence of any changes related to the professional activity and presence of these individuals? Are there communities of practice developing for integrated units outside of the professional communities?

Eugene L. Spencer:
    This is a great question. One of the difficulties that we've had in the merging/blending is finding appropriate places for us to come together to share ideas and perspective. Susan Perry did a lot for the leaders of merged library/IT organizations through CLIR (the Council on Library and Information Resources) by creating a meeting were we could come together to discusses common issues. I am aware of other initiatives, but we need to grow and develop that.

Question from Pamela, Mid-sized midwestern university:
    What advice do you have for institutions considering an IT/Library merger?

Eugene L. Spencer:
    Pamela, Get the staffs together to understand each other and what different people do in their work. Talk about ways in which the organizations are alike (rather than focusing on the differences). Create reasons for people to collaborate (or even go to a conference together). State a vision for and commitment to such an organizational change. Spend time/energy/resources on professional and organizational development. Create opportunities and permission to experiment (and possibly fail). One thing that BU's first CIO did was to tell us "this is a 10-year process". That was very important for us, because it took the pressure off for huge, rapid change and allowed us to evolve (he called it "opportunistic evolution". Your situation may be different, but help people understand what's at stake and what you expect.

Question from Erin, small liberal arts college:
    For small liberal arts institutions, it seems that the library often struggles for academic (and financial) recognition -- how does one combine IT-Library functions such that the importance of one does not overshadow the other in the eyes of administration? How is equal representation achieved, aside from aggressive marketing? How is this move seen as a merger, or consolidation, prevented?

Eugene L. Spencer:
    Erin, it has also been my experience that IT struggles for the same recognition at other institutions. In such cases, it has always seemed to me that one (or both) of these organizations has evolved in a way such to marginalize its role in the minds of faculty, students, staff and the administration. If an organization is struggling for recognition, it needs to ask itself if its doing the right things. You're correct that in a successful merger/blending, the leaders need to not overshadow one part of the organization with the other(s). Competition between these units tends to be unproductive in the past and can become dysfunctional when they have been joined. A good leader can help to balance the message.

Andrea Foster (Moderator):
    That will have to be our last question for today. Gene, thanks so much for your thoughtful responses to people's questions.

Eugene L. Spencer:
    This has been a great discussion, and I thank you all for your thought-provoking questions. I understand that there were many questions posted to the web site that we didn't get to because of time. Sorry about that.

I would like to end that I believe strongly in the benefits of greater collaboration between library, IT and media organizations. Collaboration is useful, necessary and the "right thing to do" for lots of reasons. Each institution needs to figure out how to best facilitate that collaboration based on their local situation. Blending/merging is just one way that I have found to be useful.

If any of you would like to follow up to this conversation in any way, please feel free to contact me directly at spencerg@ptd.net. Thanks, Gene