Operations Research and Organizational Decision-Making in Academic Libraries

Abstract

Operations research entered the library scene in the 1960s and '70s, and has attracted much interest from librarians. This paper examines the assumptions made by selected operations researchers concerning organizational decision-making in academic libraries. The assumptions then are compared to Richard L. Daft's contingency framework of organizational decision-making to determine the appropriateness of applying operations research assumptions and methods to organizational decision-making in an academic library setting. A review of the operations researchers' assumptions and Daft's framework suggests that the operations research approach may be appropriately applied to only a relatively narrow category of problems in academic libraries that match the stated assumptions. There are many other important academic library problems that are not well adapted to the operations researchers' craft.