Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts: THE INTEGRATED IT/LIBRARY ORGANIZATION

The changing world of scholarly information, the pervasive nature of technology on college and university campuses, and the rapid pace of innovation in the evolving digital landscape are all realities of higher education today. These phenomena point to the need for the library and IT organizations to work together to support today's scholars and students in a much more seamless fashion. Most institutions already have some level of cooperation and collaboration between these functional areas, but a greater potential for integration exists on all campuses. The difficult economic realities faced by higher education require each institution to make the best use of the staff and budget resources devoted to these costly enterprises. Yet the rewards of integration do not come without risks. Organizational transformation is not trivial, and the work required to create collaborative relationships while changing the organization culture is complex and challenging. Dedicated leadership is required from those within the new organization as well as from those supporting it. Yet such mergers are producing a new generation of information services that feature collaborative organizations delivering greatly enhanced services and enhanced opportunities for access to information and resources - services and opportunities that the IT and library organizations cannot offer separately.