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Academic Library System

Notes is that phase of an institution—academic or business enterprise—which concerns itself with
the overall determination and achievement of the major policies and objectives.
“Administration”, William Schulze maintains, “is the force which lays down the object for
which an organization and its management are to strive and the broad policies under which
they are to operate.” Administration is that function of management which, in reality, executes
or carries out the objectives for which the institution is planned, established and then organized.
Organization ensures that men, materials, jobs, various units and their included activities are
properly classified, defined and nicely arranged showing harmony and functional relationships,
whilst administrative function ensures that personnel’s are properly fitted to the jobs; works
are performed properly with satisfaction; and that men, materials, finance and working conditions
are congenial and satisfactory to yield the avowed result.
Administration includes various functions or elements, and organization is one of those elements.
Organization ‘relates to the establishment of a structure of authority and responsibility which
is further defined and co-ordinated for the attainment of specific objectives. It is a design of
the structure, the grouping and classifying of positions, on the basis of which staff is chosen,
whereas administration finds out devices to best carry out library’s planned goals with the help
of judiciously selected staff.
Organization involves: (a) identifying the activities and positions necessary to carry out library’s
plan and purpose; (b) logically grouping and arranging them according to their functional
relationships , including work organization and job descriptions so as to assign them to respective
personnel ; (c) defining the extent and scope of each department or unit and its included
activities; and (d) a statement of working relationships between the units and positions, and
of the obligations, lines of authority or the span of control. Administration, on the other hand,
means essentially the directing and executive functions that get these jobs done. It involves
comprehending purposes arid needs ; planning, defining problems, making decisions, finding
ways and means, managing and following through; organizing, or recognizing and defining,
then putting together in sound and simple relationship the component elements or divisions
of the operation as a whole, then of its smaller parts-departments, and individual jobs; selection
of personnel ; the understanding, choosing and appreciation of people and their development;
giving instructions and making supervision 10 ensure that each does his work with distinction.
The administrative function also involves certain external and financial aspects, viz. (a) the
governmental connections of the library, partly through the board of trustees; (b) its relations
with the government or municipal departments ; (c) the financial structure of the library and
the sources for securing adequate funds ; their budgeting and use : (d) public relations and
the methods by which the library keep? the entire community aware of its purposes, problems,
services, accomplishments, and maintains constant awareness of what the community thinks
of its library. Organization, on the contrary, has nothing to do with all these external activities.
The domain of organization is basically internal and limited, while that of administration may
be both external and internal, and, of course, wider.

5.2 Organizational Structure

An organizational structure is a way of describing the relationships among groups and individuals
in an organization. At the heart of an organizational structure are two things: roles/responsibilities
and communications/accountability. Roles and responsibilities refer to what a person or group
does, and communications accountability involves the relationships that a person or group
needs to hold in order to perform their job. It is important to note that even egalitarian or
“flat” structures require some kind of relationship in order to perform effectively.

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