The Role of the Genealogy Library in a Technological Environment
During the last two years as a volunteer for the genealogy department of my local library, I have noticed that technology has changed the form of information. Popular genealogical records are now available online. Fewer people want to take the time to manually roll microfilm onto the readers. As these technological trends continue, I have been brainstorming as to how the genealogical department can remain a useful tool for genealogists. Currently, the genealogy department is a very mechanistic, hierarchical organization and has no long term plan for change. According to modernist organizational theory, the routine operations of a library work well in this format (Hatch, 1997). However, the environment of the organization is changing, and according to the modernists’ population ecology theory created by organizational theorists, organizations must adapt in order to survive (Hatch).
Organization theory is a tool that the library can use to adapt to its changing environment. According to Hatch (1997), organizations viewed from the postmodern perspective are seen “…as a collage of decisions that have been made in the past and exist today as a sedimented history” (p. 279). I believe the current genealogy library collection can be viewed in this way, for it was created incrementally with the knowledge and the funding available at the time. When designing the library collection, decision makers did not know that the internet would be a future genealogical tool. Consequently, a significant part of the collection is dedicated to records that are now available online. Our current knowledge of the internet, however, does not clearly shape our goals for the future. Hatch explained this problem when she said that an increase in information decreases uncertainty and increases ambiguity of organizational goals. Herbert Simon (as cited in Hatch) described these hindrances to problem solving as bounded rationality. Simon received the Nobel Prize in economics for his contributions in this area in 1978 (as cited in http://www.stanford.edu/group/SHR/4-1/text/simon-bio.html ).
One example of how the goals for the genealogy library vary is that some people believe that we should continue to purchase physical copies of materials even if digitized versions of them are available online. They believe that the library might not always be able to afford the costly subscription fees necessary to access some genealogical websites. A differing view is that the genealogy department should only collect and digitize local records. According to Herring (2001), if all libraries would offer internet access to the parts of their collections that patrons cannot access elsewhere, the combined effort would be useful to patrons, and it would not drain resources by offering services that other libraries offer. This is an example of using strategic contingency theory to produce the long term plan. Strategic contingency theory, formulated by sociologists and organizational theorists, states that power is derived from the ability to provide a service that no one else can provide (Hatch, 1997). There are many more ways in which the genealogy library can adapt to the technological changes of the environment. By using organization theory to detach from the situation and create a vision for the future, the genealogy library will remain a useful tool for patrons.
king
Hatch, M. J. (1997). Organization theory. New York: Oxford University Press.
Herring, M.Y. (2001). Our times they are a-changin’, but are we? The dean of Library Services at Winthrop University indicts the profession at large for ceding the library future to dot-commers and others [Electronic version]. Library Journal, 126(17), 42-44. Retrieved January 20, 2005, from the Expanded Academic ASAP database.
Response by E. Nicol.
posted by Mary Ann @ 9:29 AM
1 Comments:
I agree with you, Heather, that the genealogy department has a mechanistic structure. It is a part of the large bureaucratic institution and as such the department is not reactive to change. I believe a departure from centralized management could give the genealogy department more independence and make it more open to changes in environment, meaning make it more organic. Hatch mentions that employees in organic organizations are granted greater discretion in performing their tasks (p.170), which implies that the time period between a perceived need for change and change implementation can be substantially shorter. Galbraith, while analyzing impact of technology on organizational structure notices that technology leads to increased uncertainty that in turn promotes organic forms (p.151). Unfortunately, the genealogy department cannot be perceived as an organic unit, which would allow for a smooth transition towards technological transition at the time being.
You mention that some part of a delay in decision making can be explained by Simon’s bounded reality theory, which lists several limitations involved in rational decision making process in a changing environment. This is certainly true to a large extent; however, I am unsure whether it is the explanation we can accept on a practical level. Having out limitations in mind, we can still try to implement some solutions suggested by patrons—some kind of boundary spanning activities (p.92) or explain to the management a need to follow practices of other libraries, which can be classified as a mimetic institutional pressure (p.84). I am not competent to suggest any major solutions to the problem of making the internet resources more accessible to the patrons, but I have a few ideas that have been already discussed in other sources. First of them is creating a union catalog of genealogical sources (statewide?). It would assist the patrons in their search of local collections. Second, since the internet resources are often unreliable, the genealogy librarians can focus on evaluation of authority, accuracy, credibility objectivity and purpose of the web pages. Third, digital libraries can be developed. I believe these steps could make the genealogy department an irreplaceable source for the research by which the ideal of strategic contingency theory could be attained.
Post a Comment
<< Home