Merged Information Services Organizations at Liberal Arts Colleges: Combining Library and Information Technology Services on Campus

Several higher education institutions have merged their libraries and computing centers/IT units to form a merged information services organization (MISO). It is believed that with the rise of information technology a natural convergence of these units is taking place and integrated organizations will best provide support in these areas. As information technology and libraries represent two of the largest, if not the largest support organizations on most campuses, it is important to understand how well merged units are succeeding. This descriptive, exploratory study is to ascertain the effectiveness of merged information services organizations at liberal arts colleges as perceived by chief information officers and academic deans. The study also examines their perception of how well these organizations have delivered proposed benefits in academic, administrative, institutional and organizational areas.