Organizational Charts in a Selection of LIBER Libraries : Analysis of Current Trends

The survey of organization structures analyzed in this paper was launched at the end of 2005 by the LIBER Division Library Management and Administration (LMA). It was conducted electronically in a representative group of LIBER libraries located across Europe: 78 libraries from 33 countries. It has been analyzed by the LMA Division’s committee and a member of the staff of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), allocating groups of countries between them, with the very important help of the French school of librarianship. I want to give warm thanks to all the colleagues who have responded and to those who have helped in the analysis of this very rich material.


Presentation of the survey
• A survey of organization structures (20 questions) • In a representative group of LIBER Libraries drawn from across Europe 76 libraries from 32 countries • Initiated and analyzed by the LMA Division's committee and a colleague of the BnF, allocating groups of countries between them, with the very important help of the French school of librarianship

Goals
• Compare organization and service arrangements in a range of libraries • Gain an understanding of changes in recent years, as evidenced by the organization charts • Analyze trends in the evolution of organizations, rather than arriving at firm quantifiable findings concerning change Why have organization charts been updated ?
• Due to reforms in many libraries during the last 3 years or plans in the near future

Findings regarding web activities
• Usually there is a specific web group maintaining a web presence • Web activities can also be integrated in the IT department or be outsourced (in a few cases) • Creating content is a broader activity : -Almost all departments (with subject specialists…) -A group of people representing different library activities (for different parts of the web site) • Links with the parent institution (case of university libraries) -Direct links between library and university web sites -Integration into the university website

Utrecht University Library
What is the evolution of legal deposit ?
• Legal deposit -Nearly all national libraries have legal deposit, generally of all material -The place of e-resources in legal deposit is growing, (differing situations according to countries) • Digital legal deposit -takes place in different ways in different organizations, ex.: • A general legal deposit section • Cross functional activity between different sections • Planned or implemented web legal deposit services

Findings concerning Human Resources
• The organization of responsibility for human resources reflects library size -Director directly responsible when staff <50 full time equivalent or helped by an administration officer or deputy director (<50-200 fte) -Special head of administration and personnel (<50-200 fte) -Separate HR department or staff in the largest libraries ( >200 fte) • The type of library is also significant

Findings
regarding the digital library (1) • Specific units have been created, examples : -« Department for digital development and production » (KB -Denmark) -« E-Library Development Office » (N & UL of Slovenia) -« Department of Restoration and Digitisation » (NL of Latvia) -« Department of the creation of virtual library (NL of Lithuania) Many libraries answer « new units » without giving their name • Sometimes one person : -Electronic resources manager (N & UL of Iceland) -Electronic resources librarian (Vrije UL Brussels) • Or development of the IT department -« Directorate for informatics » (National Széchényi Library, Hungary) -« IT Unit » (Tilburg NL) National Library of Scotland • New functions attached to « classical » services → digital activities shared -Most of the time : IT and Preservation departments -Often in conjunction with : acquisitions, periodicals, special collections departments or services -Sometimes : reference, public services • To work well, a collaborative approach between all the services is required • Outsourcing of some services Findings regarding the digital library (3)