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.