organizational structure of a library

Organizational structureOf a Library

Created By:

Mubassira Mahmuda SuptyThe student of Information Science and Library

Management, University of Dhaka.BA Hons, 3rd year, 5th semester

2017

Name of the contents:

1. What do you mean by organization2. Functions of organizing3. Organizational Form4. Principles of structuring5. Some special activates of organization6. Organizational chart7. Aspects of the organizational chart8. Conclusion

What do you mean by organization?

In general organization means the act or process of something that has been organized or created in an ordered way. In our daily life organizing is very important and essential to lead our life in a systematic way.

At the point of view of Library Science the organization is very important for any library or any information institutions because the library is a kind of social institution. It needs a simple and systematic organizational structure to achieve its goals and objectives. The librarians should be adopt various suitable criteria structure necessary programs and activities of a library.

Functions of organizing:The following characteristics are used for creating sections or units of a library:

1. Number2. Functions3. Territory (geographical contiguity)4. Product5. Customers (users)6. Process of Equipment7. Subjects 8. Materials (books, periodicals, microfilms, maps etc.)

For organizing the functions of a library its activities is relating to each function have to be divided into works and jobs and group and arranged to form a structure. So it is a practice to divide and group the activities of a library into desirable units for getting the best management results.

Organizational Form:The most common form of the information institution’s design is the functional structure. This structure divided the whole library into eight functional departments. This departments are-1. Acquisition2. Technical3. Processing4. Circulation5. Reference 6. Documentation7. Extension8. Maintenance

Organizational Form (Cont.):

The academic libraries use the Subject form to organize their materials. The subject form provides more and depth reference and information services, requiring a higher degree of subject specialization on the part of the staff.In academic libraries subject departments are usually broad in scope to include all related subjects.

Principals of structuring:

In the process of designing the organizational structure of a library, the dividing and grouping various library activities produce a number of horizontal and vertical units at different levels. So these units need to be structured relating them approximately, to produce a desirable organizational structure for effective administration and efficient management. This structure is essentially an establishment of appropriate relationship between various groups of persons working at vertical and horizontal positions of a library. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt some useful principles for creating organizational structure.

Principals of structuring (Cont.):1. Span of Management

2. Scalar Principle and the Vertical Hierarchy3. Unit of Command

4. Delegation of authority and responsibility5. Line and Staff Positions

6. Functional Authority

7. Co-ordination and Integration

8. Centralization and Decentralization

Principals of structuring:

The principles of structuring are elaborated below:

1. Span of management: It refers to the number of activities which a

manger can effectively manage. This mainly emphasize on the information officer or the librarian who has the power to supervise, control and manage. This emphasizes on the limit to which a librarian or information officer would be able to supervise, control and manage a number of activities efficiently.

Principals of structuring (Cont.):

2. Scalar principle and vertical hierarchy: It needs there should be final utilize authority

and the lines of authority should clear extended downward to every subordinate position in a library.

3. Unit of command: It emphasizes that each employee is supervised

by only one supervisor who should make assignments and asses the employee’s performance.


4.Delegation of authority and responsibility : It states that responsibility can not be delegated without accompanying authority. The process of delegation should consider certain facts such as:a) assignment of tasksb) the determination of the results expectedc) degree of delegation of authority for performing the tasksd) exact fixation or responsibility for future or success in performing the tasks of an employee in a library.


5. Line and staff positions: Line positions or managers are responsible and

accountable for the tasks assigned to them in the achievement of organization's aims and objectives. Staff positions are those that provide advice, support and service to line positions out their tasks. Usually staff positions are created in big libraries to streamline operations on the basis of advise give to make the right choice from different alternatives.


6. Functional authority: It relates to supervisory power exercised on

a section/unit by a position/manager/specialist outside the organizational section/unit. In libraries, often functional authority is given to specialists who complete a particular project work within specific time. Sometimes, they are known as coordinators because they have to work with employees involved in their type of specialty.


7. Co-ordination and Integration: The employees of a library work in different positions to accomplish the desired result but these positions are not to be operated in isolation. So they have to operate in close cooperation and coordination with various units of a library.

8. Centralization and Decentralization: In a library, certain activities need to be centralized and certain others decentralized. But a judicious combination would ensure best results in most economical way. Therefore, in big libraries, housekeeping operations may be centralized and specific services may be decentralized.

Some special activates for organization:

Some specific activities are necessary to organize an institutions. These are-1. Planned a goal2. Assigning the activities to specific positions3. People 4. Providing a means of coordinating the efforts of individuals and

groups.

Organizing thus divides activates into manageable units and makes each unit’s work to compatible with all the others.

One of the most important aspects of organization is choosing the design of the enterprise. The two key concepts in organizing are specialization and coordination. Each organization must decide how it wants to divide its tasks or specialize.

Organizational chart:

It is a good practice to create a chart or drawing before making something. An organizational chart is very useful visual aid for including the horizontal and vertical structure of an organization. It is a graphic presentation of organizational structure showing different positions, span of control, relationships between line and staff positions, flow of authority and responsibility, relationships with advisory committees and such others.

Aspects of the organizational chart:

This chart is very important for each type of library. While preparing the organizational chart the following steps should be taken into consideration:1. Size of an organization2. Flow of the authority and responsibility3. Horizontal and vertical positions4. Span of control5. Functional and conditional aspects6. Lines of communication

The organizational charts revel that a library, its staff and the external environment exist in a complex and interwoven relationship. Organizing provides techniques for structuring these relationships in a meaningful manner, that is for establishing relationships that provide the best flow a activities, ideas, authority and responsibility. Order and clarity arise from organizing.

Conclusion

Organization serve the public, providing a wide range of services to improve the life of individuals or communities.It can be stated that organization use management control system in order to influence employees behavior in the right direction with aim of achieving organizational goal nevertheless employs behavior can be difficult to direct ‘in a desired way, especially if individual goal are not aligned with the organizational goals.

organizational structure of a library

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