Document Type
Book Chapter
Abstract
The University of Texas Arlington (UTA) is a Carnegie R-1 university located in the heart of the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) metroplex. The UTA Libraries serve a current student population of over 54,000, in both on-campus and online degree programs. Prior to 2012, the library was traditional in its structure, having separate public services and technical services staff. Public services included Access Services, Information Services, Information Literacy, and Special Collections departments, as well as branch managers for the two satellite libraries on campus, Science and Engineering and Architecture and Fine Arts. Technical services departments included Metadata Services, Information Resources, and Digital Library Services, with Library Systems and Administration supporting all departments. In 2012, the UTA Libraries hired a new Dean of Libraries. The hiring committee for the new dean actively sought out candidates who were change agents and who expressed a vision of the academic library of the future. The broad perception was that change was necessary in order for the library to increase visibility and remain relevant on campus. The new dean came to the job with a clear mandate to help the library create a more relevant vision that would be more connected to the university's strategic goals. Under the dean's guidance, in 2013 the library's leadership team began a process that used Jim Collins's book Good to Great as a framework for setting a new strategic direction and realigning the organization's structure to support this new direction.1 The entire library staff was invited to change perspective by collectively reading and discussing Jim Collins's book and to join the journey in developing a new vision. This new vision would guide the major reorganization that would take place within the next six months.
Publication Date
1-1-2019
Language
English
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Scalf, Heather C. and Nelson, Antoinette E., "Chapter 8: Chasing the Hedgehog, An Innovative Process for Reorganization of a University Library" (2019). Librarian & UTA Libraries Staff Publications. 4.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/utalibraries_publications/4