librariesande-learningorganisationalandtechnical.docVIP

Libraries and E-Learning: Organisational and Technical Interoperability Neil McLean Macquarie University, Sydney Australia ABSTRACT Recent years have seen instructional technology and online learning join academic computing, administrative computing and library services as a major focus of investment and planning on campus. In many environments it is likely that a large part of the student and teacher experience will be managed within a systems framework which manages the learning life-cycle and interfaces to multiple systems and services. This poses interesting questions about how libraries surface their information resources in these new learning spaces and how they “fold” information into the learning experience. It also raises new political organisational and service questions about who does what and how services can best evolve. This paper explores these issues from a range of perspectives with particular reference to developments within Australian university environments. INTRODUCTION For the last decade, universities have been grappling with the growing complexities arising out of the pervasive influence of information and communication technologies. The underlying preoccupation has been with the means of managing the IT infrastructure supporting academic computing, administrative systems and library systems. Each domain has had its own particular challenges with issues of reliability and cost-effectiveness being constant themes. The growing interdependence of the various systems environments led to a focus on organisational restructuring as a solution to a range of political and functional problems. Towards the end of the decade, it become apparent that organisational restructuring in itself was not the answer. Put simply, the bringing together of libraries, IT services, management information systems and (sometimes) flexible learning centres has not necessarily lead to better service outcomes. There have been many examples of tightly