Reorganizations: An Interview with Staff from the University of Arizona Libraries

Authors

• Joan Giesecke, Universityof Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

September 1994

Comments

Published in Library Administration and Management, 8:4 (Fall 1994), pp. 196-99. Copyright 1994 American Library Association. Used by permission.

Abstract

The University of Arizona is in the midst of a major reorganization as the library changes from a traditional organizational structure to a team- centered, user-focused organization. At the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Los Angeles, I had an opportunity to meet with a group of librarians from the University of Arizona who are actively involved in the change process. This was not a traditional interview, but more of a conversation with ten members of the library staff who spoke jointly about their experiences with the reorganization of their library. Answers reflect the comments of the group members; individuals are not identified as I found that the group really spoke as a group, finishing each others thoughts, expanding on answers, and describing their experiences. The answers didn't necessarily follow the order of the questions, so a bit of editorial license has been taken to create some order out of the conversation.
Involved in the interview were Carla Stoffle, dean of libraries; Cecilia Knight; Carrie Russell, undergraduate services team; Chestalene Pintozzi, science engineering team; Jeanne Voyles, team leader for materials access team; Mark Winston, undergraduate services and the social sciences team; Doug Jones, team leader of the science engineering team; Janet Fore, team leader of undergraduate services team; Shelley Phipps, assistant dean for team facilitation; and Bob Diaz, assistant to the dean for staff development, diversity and recruitment.