Abstract:
The research questions o f this study are concerning the factors o f
decision-making o f merging libraries and computing centers in Taiwan. The
decision-makers on four campuses in Taiwan were interviewed by using the
multiple-case study approach. The answers, responses, and feedback from the
participants were compared, synthesized, and analyzed into the five categories o f the
researcher’s theoretical framework, which combines the cognitive and psychological
elements o f Simon’s bounded rational decision-making and Rogers’
innovation-decision process. The five categories o f factors that act as helpful but not
restricting guides are: 1. factors o f environment, 2. factors o f decision-making units, 3.
Merging Libraries and Computing
factors o f decision-makers’ personality, 4. factors o f innovation, and 5. factors o f time.
The findings reveal that the mergers o f libraries and computing centers on Taiwanese
campuses is an authoritative and necessitated decision and the decision-makers’
personality is a key factor which may be changed according to the school size and
budget resources. All o f the decisions o f merging libraries and computing centers of
schools are impacted by the factors o f environment, decision-making unit, and time;
no matter if the school is public, private, large, or small. The results o f this study
imply that Rogers’ five stages o f innovation decision process are not proper to explain
Taiwanese mergers o f libraries and computing centers and echoes three limitations o f
Simon’s bounded rational decision-making process. This study suggests Library and
Information Study to emphasize the importance o f building a new legitimacy for
adding accountability and consistency in this new organization, offering The
International Federation o f Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) a cultural
undersantding regarding decision-making types in Taiwan, and improving curriculum
of the Library and Information Study for involving the fields o f management and law.
