Academic
Cultures & Perceptions
Taking Your Liaison Program to the Next Level:
Strategies for Outreach and Integration
ACRL National Conference
Baltimore, Maryland
March 29, 2007
Craig Gibson
What is “Culture”?
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(Think-Pair-Share)
Culture: Definitions
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“Social or normative glue that holds an
organization together” (Smirchich)
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The “invisible tapestry” that weaves together
parts of an organization (Kuh and Whitt)
Smirchich, L. 1983. “Concepts of Culture and Organizational Analysis.” Administrative Science Quarterly
28: 339-58.
Kuh, George, and Elizabeth Whitt. 1988. The Invisible Tapestry: Culture in American Colleges and Universities.
ASHE-ERIC Report no. 1. Washington, D.C.: ASHE.
Culture: Features
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Distinctive beliefs, ways of interacting and
behaving
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Unspoken assumptions, tacit knowledge
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The predominant paradigm that helps those
within it make meaning and understand the
environment
Culture: How’s it Manifested?
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It’s the “unconscious infrastructure” (Kuh and Whitt)
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stories, myths, organizational sagas
rituals, ceremonies
specialized terminology
systemic behavior patterns by those within an
organization, over time
Layers of Culture:
Explicit and Tacit Knowledge
Explicit knowledge
 Words, numbers written
down
 Reports, manuals,
products
Tacit knowledge
 Attitudes, beliefs, skills
below the level of
awareness
 Subjective insights,
hunches, intuitions
Academic Cultures
Institutional Culture
Student Culture
Faculty
Culture
Administrative
Culture
Library Culture
Academic Cultures
Faculty Culture

Identify a recent experience with a faculty
member that shows a systemic aspect of
faculty culture. What words would you use to
characterize that culture?
Relevant Cultural Aspects
of Faculty Culture
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Emphasis of most academic disciplines on
research, content, and specialization
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Deemphasis on teaching, process,and
undergraduates
The Five Core Academic Values
(of Faculty)
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Collegiality: participation, consensus, the
“collegium”; the “company of equals”

Autonomy: individual faculty member’s ability
to make decisions without coercion or outside
intervention

Academic freedom: substantive intellectual
work requires freedom to choose and
“profess” in one’s discipline
Five Core Academic Values (cont’d)
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Specialized expertise: basis for authority,
credibility, prestige, recognition, and rewards
within the academy

Reason/scientific method: the basis for
developing knowledge and expertise
Barbara Walvoord, Academic Departments: How They Work, How They Change. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education
Report, v. 27, no. 8. San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 2000, pp. 15-17.
How do faculty view librarians?
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Process, procedure-oriented
Rule-bound
Service role rather than educational one
Not seen as equals
Not aware of instruction that librarians already do
Student Culture: Values
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Collaborative, peer influences
Credentialism and careerism
“What’s in it for me”?
NetGen/Millenials’ priorities
Library Culture
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Order, predictability
Standards, expertise
“Mature organizations”: barrier to innovation
(Deiss)
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Replicability of experience: more important
than risk and uncertainty (Deiss)
Kathryn Deiss, “Innovation and Strategy: Risk and Choice in Shaping User-Centered Libraries,” Library Trends, vol.
53, no. 1, summer 2004, pp. 17-32.
Administrative Culture
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Strategic planning
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Educational outcomes
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Efficiency in resource use
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Sensitivity to external pressures:
governing boards, employers, the public,
alumni
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“Rationalized myths” (subjective
interpretations and analyses given
logical veneer)
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Symbolic action, ceremony
Coexisting and overlapping
institutional cultures (chronological order)
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Collegial: epitomizes the five core academic values; the “core
culture” of the academy
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Managerial: administrative demands for efficiency, outcomes,
accountability; an emergent value system
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Negotiating: relationship, sometimes adversarial, between faculty
and administration
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Developmental: professional growth, student development and
services
Bergquist, W.H. (1992). The Four Cultures of the Academy. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Academic Cultures:
Positioning Liaison and Outreach
Perceptions
Perceptions
“Asymmetrical disconnection”
between librarians and faculty
Lars Christensen, Mindy Stombler, and Lyn Thaxton, “A Report on Librarian-Faculty Relations from a Sociological
Perspective,” Journal of Academic Librarianship, 30/2 (March 2004): 116-121.
Perceptions

Librarians value contact with faculty and attempt to
increase it
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Faculty often don’t understand the work of librarians
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Librarians see lack of communication with faculty as
problematic, a challenge to be overcome
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Faculty are often so preoccupied that they don’t
identify lack of communication with librarians as a
problem
Lars Christensen, Mindy Stombler, and Lyn Thaxton, “A Report on Librarian-Faculty Relations from a
Sociological Perspective,” Journal of Academic Librarianship, 30/2 (March 2004): 116-121.
Realities
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Faculty are affiliated with their discipline
and/or academic department
Librarians are affiliated with an agency that
serves information/research needs of
everyone
Faculty have more flexible schedules
Librarians work more standard (40+ hours
per week) schedules
Lars Christensen, Mindy Stombler, and Lyn Thaxton, “A Report on Librarian-Faculty Relations from a Sociological
Perspective,” Journal of Academic Librarianship, 30/2 (March 2004): 116-121.
Cultural gaps and perceptions
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Librarians are attuned to collaboration, cooperation,
sharing
Faculty culture is often more individualistic, isolated,
and proprietary
Librarians are not seen as true subject experts by
faculty even if librarians have academic preparation
and/or degrees
Faculty are not seen by librarians as truly
competent/conversant with I.T., searching, or
teaching (in some cases)
Lars Christensen, Mindy Stombler, and Lyn Thaxton, “A Report on Librarian-Faculty Relations from a Sociological
Perspective,” Journal of Academic Librarianship, 30/2 (March 2004): 116-121.
Culture, Belief, and Change

Change doesn’t come from following a procedural plan or a
“cookbook” approach

Change comes from deepening the beliefs or “internal
commitments” of people
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Change comes from a collaborative learning process (shared
expertise)
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The role of the leader is to increase “organizational capacity”
Core Change Strategies
within the Academy
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Senior Administrative Support
Collaborative Leadership
Robust Design
Staff Development
Visible Actions
Adrianna Kezar and Peter Eckel, “The Effect of Culture on Change Strategies in Higher Education,” The Journal of Higher
Education, vol. 73, no. 4 (July/August 2002), pp. 435-460.
Transformational Change
Visible Actions
Robust Design
Robust Design
Resources
Flexible Picture
of the Future
Change Strategies
compatible with the
culture
Strategic Directions and Positioning
Other Change Strategies . . .
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Persuasive communication
Incentives, rewards
Long-term orientation
Connections and synergy
Working within the organizational culture
Bringing in outside perspectives
Using external factors
Capitalizing on unforeseen opportunities
Other Change Strategies . . .
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Moderating momentum
Establishing new expectations
Using changes in administrative processes
Resocializing groups
Placing local change in broader context
Adrianna Kezar and Peter Eckel, “Examining the Institutional Transformation Process,” Research in Higher
Education, vol. 43, no. 3, June 2002, pp. 295-328.
What’s Your (Library’s Prevailing) Culture?
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(Cultural Audit exercise)