For the past eighteen months, the Management Team at Old Dominion University Libraries has been working on a major reorganization project that will dramatically change the form and function of the organization. An important component of the restructure is consolidating the Acquisitions & Preservation Services Unit with the ILL & Document Delivery Unit to form a new department called Acquisitions and Resources Fulfillment.
For years, Acquisitions & Preservation Services has been responsible for monographic acquisitions, licensing, and parts of serial and electronic resource acquisitions. In addition, the unit managed all aspects of preservation services including binding, physical processing of materials, environmental control, and disaster preparation and response. At the same time, the ILL unit was responsible for all document delivery and ILL services.
After the merger, the Acquisitions and Resources Fulfillment Department took over all acquisitions work and retained its Document Delivery and ILL functions. However, preservation responsibilities were shifted to a different unit. Complicating matters was that University Libraries migrated to ALMA just a few months prior to consolidation. In a short period of time, staff members were learning a new ILS, transitioning to a different set of co-workers, and adjusting to a newly created shared work environment.
This presentation will address and answer several questions: What were the reasons for the merger? What were the goals and objectives of the merger? Was the merger effective? What worked? What did not work? What have been the consolidation’s biggest challenges?
Visuals will provide an overview of the initiative, pre and post organizational charts, and takeaways and recommendations for future best practices. Also included will be a list of anticipated future projects for the Acquisitions & Resource Fulfillment Department as well as possible assessment measures for evaluating the success of the merger.
