October has gone by quickly and here in Central New York, we’ve had our first snow. Many of us in New York State public institutions have felt the chill of winter for several months as we have been dealing with consequences of the state’s budget shortfalls. The financial crisis on Wall Street impacts the entire state as tax revenues have declined significantly. The financial outlook, just like the weather, is uncertain.
I’ve been working with the budget administrators in Information Resources to decide how we can best absorb the cuts, which amount to 20 percent this year. SUNY Cortland does not stand alone in this unfortunate situation. An article in today’s Chronicle of Higher Education reports that “45 percent of public universities reported cuts in their central technology budgets for the current academic year” and “about 22 percent of four-year private colleges reported such cuts.”
SUNY Cortland is responding in a manner similar to many other institutions facing serious budget threats: we have identified our priorities and are continuing to offer — and in some cases expand — our technology services. We are looking at ways to fully utilize our new portal, myRedDragon, by improving the mechanisms we use to communicate with our students. Our instructional technology resources are growing, and more students and faculty than ever are using our services.
Unfortunately, we are not able to continue our aggressive program of building new technology spaces; however, there are several new buildings being planned that will include state-of-the-art technology facilities. Ironically, in New York State, while public colleges and universities have seen their operating budgets cut this year, the capital budgets have been held harmless. This will certainly present a challenge if the resources to support the new facilities are not forthcoming, but for now, the building continues.
The current budget strain is an unpleasant reality, but we’ve seen such difficulties in the past. Our ongoing planning efforts and our strategic planning process give us a framework to move forward — and maintain the integrity of our mission and services.
I usually find something to identify with in the Chronicle of Higher Education’s podcast, Tech Therapy, and the latest episode about Libraries and IT was particularly relevant. For the past twenty-some years I’ve been immersed in both of these cultures, first as a library director working with IT to automate systems, and for the past fifteen years as a CIO with responsibilities for librarians and technologists. Several years ago I was doing research on this very topic and gave several presentations about the two cultures and the potential for synergistic relationships.
As CIO I acknowledge the two distinct cultures within a blended IT organization. I have come to accept and respect the inherent differences. I do believe that as instructional technologies are now so closely integrated into the entire teaching learning process there are more similarities than differences. As librarians and IT professionals work together, many of the earlier barriers between the two groups have been broken down.
The Tech Therapy podcast does a nice job of delineating the differences and similarities between the two groups. Whether true or not, there are also have been many perceptions that each group has of the other. And if the old adage about how others see us holds true, there’s been a lot of negativity to overcome.
Research studies of the IT and Library cultures go back to the 1980’s, when technology began to radically change the face of libraries and their necessary relationships with IT. Research that I studied in the early 2000’s revealed that IT professionals considered librarians to be inflexible and rigid, with little or no understanding of technology and no desire to learn. Librarians were perceived as moving slowly and cautiously and engaging in too much discussion before embarking on new directions, and theirs was a tradition of standards, tradition and structure.
Librarians did not hold technologists in high esteem, considering them to be technocratic and disorganized, with high regard for data and little regard for information, knowledge, and disciplinary research needs and valuing technology for its own sake. As librarians and technologists have developed closer working relationships, some of the stereotypic perceptions have been dispelled, and to some extent have been replaced with the acknowledgement of similarities between the two groups, and certainly the recognition of mutual goals.
Much of my work as CIO has been to bridge the cultural gap between the two groups and create an environment that fosters collaboration and respect. A blended IT organization certainly has facilitated coordination among the technology and information groups, but organizational structure is less important than an atmosphere that encourages ongoing communication and interaction. There are still schools where IT and libraries remain isolated from each other, but that is less common now. There are more partnerships and cooperation as the two groups are working together to achieve common goals.
Web 2.0 technologies are blurring the distinctions, as are Learming Commons that offer a single service point for information — in whatever form it exists. Whether the data is physically in the library or in cyberspace becomes immaterial. Whether faculty and students are assisted by technologists or librarians is of little or no consequence. What matters is the information itself, along with the ability to access what is needed here and now. As our world of technology and information continues to change, so do the relationships between librarians and technologists.
