Mid-Career Library and Information Professionals

11

Don’t get stuck in a rut!

Richard Moniz

I have spoken often in the past and written more recently about the importance of organizational culture. While a variety of decision-making tools, methodologies, and techniques are available to a library manager, in the end, all of these decisions, whether programmed or not, are made in a specific context. As Schein (2004) has pointed out, organizations over time develop a particular way of ‘getting things done.’ This cultural aspect has a wide variety of dimensions. For one, organizations have various artifacts (e.g. organizational symbols) and clearly stated goals, objectives, mission statements, etc. These may or may not be aligned with what one sees when observing day-to-day operations. Another ...