Dissertation Information for Christopher Lucian Brown-Syed NAME: - Christopher Lucian Brown-Syed
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science
SCHOOL:
- University of Toronto (Canada) (1996)
ADVISORS: - Adele Fasick
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - Keith Thomas - Andrew Clement
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: From CLANN to UNILINC: An automated library consortium from a soft systems perspective
Abstract: Regional library networks (consortia) continue to survive, and even to proliferate in an age of wide-area networking. This cannot be explained entirely by their infrastructures, since advances in computing and communications have provided apparent alternatives. This dissertation employs Peter Checkland's Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) at a large multi-type consortium to identify factors which might account for its robustness.
The College Libraries Activity Network of New South Wales (CLANN) was established in the mid-1970s. Its boundaries currently extend into Victoria, Queensland, and the Australian Capital Territory. The name UNILINC was adopted in the early 1990s, coincident with changes in governance. UNILINC was chosen as an exemplar of a "mixed type" consortium, since it included academic, public, school, and special libraries among its members, because it served urban and rural institutions of widely varying sizes and clienteles. The study employed a review of historical material, electronic mail exchanges, in-depth interviews with representative site and headquarters managers and staff, observation of committee meetings and daily activities, and a corroborative examination of the computing system.
The study identified a key shift in emphasis--from the provision of information itself, to the procurement, implementation, and management of information technology (IT). This could be expressed in a root definition: "A member-institution owned and consortium-staff-operated system to bring about innovation in information technology and attendant services through cooperation among member institutions." The consortium's strengths included its abilities to adapt existing technologies to member needs, to develop new products and services, to facilitate communication and training, to reduce duplication of effort and expense, and to provide a forum for discussion of common professional or technical issues.
This dissertation contends that the continued viability of consortia may rest more upon the cultural and economic value obtained when technical and professional expertise are nurtured and made available cooperatively, than upon their native technologies or infrastructures. The concept of the consortium as an expertise-based agency, charged both with implementing IT and with delivering high-quality information, may be suitable for widespread emulation, and may suggest future directions for librarianship at large.
| |
MPACT Scores for Christopher Lucian Brown-Syed A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:26:21
Advisors and Advisees Graph
generating graph, please reload |