Technological Innovation and Organizational Change

Abstract

Technology has been one of the major factors driving changes in the way students, faculty and most people communicate, learn, find and use information. The widespread use of computers on campuses and the increasing availability of network connections will drive greater change in the future. For the purposes of this paper, information technology will be defined as information logistics, that is, the storage, transmission, receipt, retrieval and manipulation of data in all forms including voice, text, photographs, graphics and multimedia. Information technology provides support services to libraries which deal with substance, content, instruction and research. While technology is helping to deliver data where and when it is needed, students and faculty are becoming more sophisticated users of technology. Information technology has effected innovation in human behavior. We do not do things the same way we did them five years ago. During the last ten years technology has brought about changes in work routines and work habits that have been truly revolutionary. New ways of working and new awareness of what is possible are changing customer expectations of libraries and creating the need for new organizational structures to provide flexible and responsive information and library services. This paper will discuss the changing environment in which academic libraries operate, technology, and other factors affecting organizational structure in libraries.