Please excuse cross-posting.
You are invited to participate in an online survey about the use of
teams in technical services in academic libraries. This survey is
intended for librarians and staff who work in technical services in
academic libraries.
For this survey, "technical services" is defined as library functional
areas that are responsible for selecting, acquiring, organizing,
processing, and providing access to library collections in all formats,
as opposed to the delivery of public services. Typical technical
services functional areas include collection development, cataloging,
acquisitions, electronic resources management, physical processing,
print serials, and preservation. In some libraries, technical services
functional areas are centralized and belong to one
unit/department/division; in some libraries, technical services
functional areas are not centralized and belong to different
units/departments/divisions. This survey applies to both centralized and
non-centralized technical services.
In recent years, more and more technical services in academic libraries
have reorganized into team-based structures. The purpose of this survey
is to investigate the use of teams in technical services in academic
libraries.
Most of the questions in this survey are modeled after "Use of Teams in
ARL Libraries," SPEC Kit 232 (July 1998). For this survey, a team is
defined as "a small number of people with complementary skills who are
committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which
they hold themselves mutually accountable." (Katzenbach and Smith, The
Wisdom of Teams. Harvard Business School Press, 1991) "Though there can
be wide variations among team roles and responsibilities, they are
usually distinguished from other kinds of groups in our organizations by
greater degrees of autonomy and self-governance, as well as by shared
decision making. Moreover, team leaders tend to lead through a
facilitative process and consensus-building, rather than through
traditional command and control approaches." (SPEC Kit 232, p. 3) This
survey also distinguishes between permanent teams and project
teams which are used only for a defined period of time for a defined
purpose.
Responding to this survey constitutes informed consent to participating
in the research. The survey is voluntary, and you may withdraw from it
at any time. All responses will be kept confidential and anonymous. The
results of this survey are intended for publication.
The survey will remain open until October 22, 2010. It should take
around 30 minutes to complete.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Lihong Zhu, Head
of Technical Services, Washington State University, email:
lzhu2_at_wsu.edu.
Here is the link to the online survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RGT7VYK
Thank you for your participation,
Lihong Zhu
Lihong Zhu
Head, Technical Services
Washington State University Libraries
P.O. Box 645610, Pullman, WA 99164-5610
E-mail: lzhu2_at_wsu.edu
Phone: (509) 335-7769
Fax: (509) 335-9589
Received on Fri Oct 01 2010 - 11:46:27 EDT