Exploring the organisational culture of networked services departments in New Zealand university libraries

Abstract

This research explores what dimensions of organisational culture are present in networked services departments in New Zealand university libraries; and then seeks to develop a framework of organisational culture specific to networked services departments for use in library management. A quantitative survey of the members of networked services departments in New Zealand university libraries was conducted using online survey software to determine what dimensions of organisational culture are present. The data was analysed for the impact of the length of employment in a networked services department -comparing departmental members of less than one year tenure to those of a longer tenure; and for commonality of organisational culture dimensions across the different university libraries. The research findings identify eight dimensions of organisational culture as present in networked services departments. The findings also suggest that the culture of networked services departments is not exhaustively captured by existing organisational culture frameworks; that organisational culture is minimally impacted by the length of tenure; and that there is a commonality of organisational culture across university library networked services departments. The research then proposes a tentative framework tailored to networked services departments in New Zealand university libraries based on the organisational culture dimensions identified.