Redesigning a Library’s Organizational Structure

Abstract

The evolution from print to electronic resources and services continues to pose significant challenges for academic libraries. This article presents a systematic, evidence-based approach to guide this transition, which resulted in an exhaustive reorganization of library staffing and services. The approach begins with the necessity of accumulating and then evaluating data on staff workloads and responsibilities. At the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas Library, this evaluation revealed that a preponderant amount of time was still spent on print-related activities that were no longer considered to be library priorities. The corrective actions taken to remedy this misalignment are then discussed.