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The challenges in measuring academic library culture on a national scale using a mixed

method approach : a case study using Australian academic libraries.

By Damian Lodge

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• Discussion today– Australia academic library environment– Describing culture

• Definitions• Studies in org culture

– Challenges using this mixed method• Interview and online survey• Positives and negatives associated with these data

gathering methods• Results from the data

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• Australian Academic library environment– 40 public Universities – 2 small private Universities– Range in staff numbers from under 50 to 200+– Most are separate entities with only a small

number running converged structures with IT– Funding ranges from $5m to over $30m US

per year

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• What is culture?– Definition:

“Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit of an for behaviour acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiment in artefacts: the essential core of culture consists of traditional ideas and especially their attached values: culture systems may, on one hand, be considered as products of action, on the other, as conditioning elements of future action” (Kroeber & Kluckhohn, 1952 in Rickards, 1999)

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• “…the system of norms, beliefs and assumptions, and values that determine how people in the organization act—even when that action may be at odds with written policies and formal reporting relationships.”

• Edgar H. Schein (2004)

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• “Organizational culture researchers do not agree about what culture is, or why is should be studied. They do not study the same phenomenon… No wonder, then, that research on organisational culture has sometimes been dismissed as a ‘dead end’, as unrelated to mainstream theory, or as a fad that has failed to deliver on it promises.” (Frost, 1991 in Rickards, 1999)

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• How does culture affect the way we relate to our clients?– Services– Collection– Staff– Building/environment– Funding

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• Key research objectives– Examine key aspects of organisational culture

relevant to Australia university libraries– Investigate current methods university library

mangers are using to mould the culture of their unit/department.

– Investigate current methods university library mangers are using to mould the culture of their university external to the library.

– To identify where organisational culture fits in the change management process in Australian university libraries.

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• Method– Face to face interviews with 20 university librarians

(the senior library manager from each university)– Universities chosen using purposive sampling to

include:• High to low budgets• High to low students numbers• Research output• Geographically spread across Australia• Mix of metro and regional• Mixture of modes of teaching

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• Sample questions for the university librarians1. What achievements has this library made over the

last five years.2. What issues are currently facing this library?2.1 Can you describe any factors external to the

library but within the university that are currently affecting the culture of the library?

3.What other factors affect the organisational or workplace culture you currently work in?

4.What effect do you believe you have on organisational culture?

5.How has this culture developed within the library?

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Undertaking the Interviews• Positives of interviews

– Face to face– Body language– View buildings and environment– See annual reports, planning documents

• Interviews averaged 90-100 minutes– Shortest 20 minutes– Longest 2 hours 30 minutes– Average transcription length of interview 23 pages

• Negatives of interviews– Audio recorder – non digital versus digital– Note taking while listening and questioning– Time taken in travel

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• Key areas coming out of the interviews– Budget– Communication– Restructures– Physical environment– Strategic plan– Poor prior management– Ageing workforce– RQF– Senior university management

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• Quote on restructure from prior management– The interesting thing is, she has picked that up after

somebody else has set that up. It is unusual for somebody else to set up a whole structure, rebuild the whole world and say s@#t I've really stuffed that one up. It is like systems, you never talk to the person who selected the computer system, talk to their successor who is much more likely to be frank about it. Having said that I think she is very much in support of the model but gee she has a big job. (Resp 8)

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• Staffing and ageing workforce– …given the three years I have been here I'd

be guessing that we have hired six new people. I am talking about really hiring as opposed to casuals, temporaries and out of 160 that is not many. (Resp 8)

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• Budgeting from a UL with 10+ years of experience in the role– I can give you one example. I thought I understood

the budget process, there were certain formal things that were set down that had to be done and we had done it with the minimum success in changing the budget. Quite by accident we discovered when we put forward a joint project there was a parallel structure that we knew nothing about. Had we known how it really worked we would have restructured the way we developed our things. Now I ask myself why didn't I know, why didn't I ask, I have asked myself many times. (Resp 1)

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• Introduction of the RQF– “The best thing has happened, by sheer fortuitous

chance, something happened to make this really easy, the RQF. The best thing since sliced bread as far as I am concerned. I don’t care if it actually never comes in, its been the best thing ever as suddenly we mattered, suddenly we were noticed, suddenly we could help, suddenly we new things that no body else knew. Two years ago, who apart from librarians had ever heard of bibliometric analysis. The best thing since sliced bread.” (Resp 7)

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• General discussion about the library– “I think our library was like a cake. What we had done

was this fantastic icing job, beautifully iced cake. The library is only services about information resources, its teaching people how to find, how to use them, how to evaluate them and how to think about them. But you have got to have the resources in the first place and I think we had forgotten about that. We had all the lovely services but no cake. The world’s most gorgeous icing job though.” (Resp 7)

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• To build a more complete picture I sought input from the staff– Online survey located at

• http://ispg.csu.edu.au/research/surveys/dlodge• Survey distributed by the university librarian’s administrative

staff to all library staff (librarians, library techs, admin, shelving etc).

• Problems in university librarians distributing the survey due to:

– Issues with content of survey– Over surveying of staff– General feeling of discomfort of possible results – Trust in the interviewer

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• I divided the questionnaire into 9 key areas– Communication– Values & respect– Norms and expectations– Management quality– Change management– Environment– Team work– Impact of culture– Individual comments

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• Organisational culture survey results from Anonymous

– Organisation: Uni 1– Hew level: 6– Years with organisation: 3– Gender: 1– Manage/Supervise staff: 1– Number of Staff: 4

– Question 1 : 4– Question 2 : 4– Question 3 : 5– Question 4 : 4– Question 5 : 5– Question 6 : 4– Question 7 : 2– Explanation : …

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• My definition of building a positive culture– Positive culture in the workplace occurs when

each individual in that workplace shares a common understanding of the beliefs, feelings and attitudes in how to achieve the libraries set goals and objectives.

– Positive culture is heavily influenced by competent communicative management that involves individuals in the planning and direction of the library.

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• Thankyou– Contact details

Damian Lodge

dlodge@csu.edu.au

+61 2 6933 2172