Page 27 - DLIS003_LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT

Library Administration and Management

Notes

Case Study Unifying Harvard’s Libraries

fter“exhaustive analysis,” an implementation work group of the Task Force on
University Libraries has recommended creation of a coordinated management
Astructure for the entire University Library system. A new position, executive
director of the University Library, will report to a board of directors chaired by Provost
Steven E. Hyman and composed of Pforzheimer University Professor Robert Darnton,
currently director of the Harvard University Library, other faculty members, and deans of
Harvard schools (or their designates). This new administrative structure seeks to preserve
local autonomy by serving scholarly interests within specialized areas of study such as
business or medicine, while facilitating the “global strategic, administrative and business
processes” of the library system as a whole. (In interviews with Harvard Magazine last year,
Darnton, Hyman, and professor of philosophy and theology David C. Lamberth, who
chairs the implementation work group, discussed the challenges of shepherding the libraries
through the digital revolution.)

“We’re trying to pull together what has been an extremely decentralized system…under
a unified management structure…which will exercise oversight and shape…the strategic
priorities of the library University-wide,” says Lamberth. There are currently 73 separate
libraries within the University system. This change in the structure of their governance
will facilitate, for example, the coordination of acquisitions and technology services,
including online portals that patrons use to find things in the University’s vast collections.
The representative structure of the board, Lamberth continues, will allow Harvard to
retain “that tight connection to the academic program and priorities of the schools,
”a “great strength” that has “distinguished our collection.” This will become even more
important as “pedagogical support, development of courses, and teaching resources” are
integrated into the services that academic libraries are expected to provide—part of a
“growing trend,” Lamberth notes.
President Drew Faust is expected to nominate the library system’s first executive director
within the next few weeks; the composition of the board will also likely be announced in
that time frame.
Questions
1. Discuss the new Administrative structure of Harvard University Library system.

2. What were the pitfalls in the existing Library System of the University?
3. Summarise the case problem and solution in five points.

Source: http://harvardmagazine.com/2009/11/harvard-library-system-faces-restructuring

1.8 Summary

Library administration means managing the performance of the operations and other
activities of a library and then finally making important decisions.
Practically, there is no difference between management and administration. Every manager
is concerned with both – administrative management function and operative management
function.

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