The Digital Disease in Academic Libraries | Canadian Journal of Academic Librarianship Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer Current Archives Announcements About About the Journal Submissions Tips for authors Guidelines for Peer Review Book Reviews Editorial Team Privacy Statement Contact Search Search Register Login Home / Archives / Vol 6 (2020): including Special Focus on Academic Libraries and the Irrational / Special Focus on Academic Libraries and the Irrational The Digital Disease in Academic Libraries Kris Joseph York University DOI: https://doi.org/10.33137/cjal-rcbu.v6.34028 Keywords: digital scholarship, library management, library organization Abstract This article uses organizational design and management literature to shed critical light on a peculiar quirk of academic library organizational structures: the existence of job titles and departments that exist to highlight “digital” functions and workflows. An exploration of the literature along four interrelated themes provides insight into the origin of the problem: organizational design theory and the arrangement of work in academic libraries; the reliance on strategic alignment through buzzwords as a means of coping with uncertainty; the tendency of academic library structures to resemble one another; and challenges associated with knowledge sharing and professional development in hierarchical organizations. These contexts frame the symptoms of The Digital Disease, all of which are derived from the convergence of the article’s four thematic preconditions. Though the disease is the lens through which contemporary academic library organization is analyzed, its existence serves to highlight pre-existing patterns in academic library management that warrant further scrutiny. Downloads Download data is not yet available. Author Biography Kris Joseph, York University Kris Joseph is the Digital Scholarship Librarian at York University. PDF Published 2020-12-18 How to Cite Joseph, Kris. 2020. “The Digital Disease in Academic Libraries”. Canadian Journal of Academic Librarianship 6 (December), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.33137/cjal-rcbu.v6.34028. More Citation Formats APA Chicago Harvard MLA Download Citation Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS) BibTeX Issue Vol 6 (2020): including Special Focus on Academic Libraries and the Irrational Section Special Focus on Academic Libraries and the Irrational Copyright (c) 2020 Kris Joseph This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms: Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License that allows others to use and share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal, as long as it is not used for commercial purposes. This license does not waive the author’s moral rights. Authors may choose a different Creative Commons license by indicating their preference to the editors. Language English Français (Canada) Make a Submission Browse Categories Special Focus on Research and Scholarship Special Focus on Diversity Information For Readers For Authors For Librarians The Canadian Journal of Academic Librarianship is published by the Canadian Association of Professional Academic Librarians. Follow us: @CjalRcbu ISSN 2369-937X