Todd Digby

Term

Summer 2021

Capstone

Dissertation

Degree Name

EdD

Primary Advisor/Dissertation Chair

Trish Harvey

Secondary Advisor/Reader One

Paul Wyss

Peer-Reviewer/Reader Two

Zala Fashant

Abstract

Academic and research libraries are dependent on a wide range of technology and systems to manage access and storage of digital research materials and collections. Given the high level of costs and staff needed to support these systems, the factors that influence library leadership in their decision making process to support or adopt new technologies is important. In order to understand the various dynamics involved with this decision making process, this study specifically examined influencing factors that academic library leaders use in their decisions to support or adopt institutional repository (IR) systems. This mixed method research study used both a quantitative research survey instrument that was adapted from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), which was followed by semi-structured interviews to address the research questions presented in this study. The overarching research question of this study was, do the factors of usefulness, ease of use, need, cost effectiveness, and reliability influence academic library leaders' decision making process regarding the adoption and ongoing support of technology initiatives, in this case IR systems? The data collected from this research reveal that library leaders place a significant emphasis on the factors of the perceived need, reliability, and perceived usefulness of an IR system. Building on these factors, interviews with senior library leaders revealed that the influencing factor of costs or ability to fund a system was a constant presence in their decision-making rubric.

dc_type

text

dc_publisher

DigitalCommons@Hamline

dc_format

application/pdf

dc_source

School of Education Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

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