Academic Library WebTeam Management: The Role of Leadership & Authority

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to describe how the TTU Library WebTeam functioned, what it achieved, and the lessons learned, with the hope of encouraging other academic institutions to implement such a team structure to accomplish specific tasks either related or unrelated to web site management. This article describes that experiment from the perspective of the Team Leader, focusing on the role of authority and leadership in small group dynamics. The WebTeam phase of web site development at TTU Libraries has formally concluded. The successful implementation of our WebTeam suggests that small working groups of professional librarians and paraprofessional staff can manage their own agenda to help the academic library more effectively achieve its mission. Our Team was on the "front lines" bringing a new technology into the academic workplace where the rate of change is dizzying and where technological changes are not always welcome.