In the current environment for higher education, it has become critical for all of the departments and colleges within a university to become more aware of their place in the overall mission of the university. This is especially true of the academic library, which had relied upon a reputation as the “heart” of an academic institution for many years. The new reality of shrinking budgets and an increased focus on student success and retention at colleges and universities has meant that this reputation has been challenged in recent years. If libraries are to remain at the “heart” of their campuses, they must re-envision how they approach funding requests and understand their role in campus-wide initiatives for retention and success. One way that academic libraries can begin this process is through working to improving communication between the deans or directors who manage the library and the university provost who often serves as the supervisor of the deans or directors. This study examines that relationship to determine what differences there are between deans or directors and provosts in their communication preferences for funding requests and their perception of the library’s role in campus-wide initiatives to increase retention and student success. The study focused on these areas because two of the main challenges facing higher education in the literature were decreasing funding and the need to improve retention and student success metrics. The quantitative and qualitative data sets collected for this project are used to highlight areas of agreement and difference among deans, directors, and provosts and to recommend steps for future action, including the application of New Public Management theory for better understanding the current higher education landscape. The study also developed recommendations for future studies of library and university administration. Through understanding these differences, academic library and university administrators can better understand how to improve their working relationships in a manner that can hopefully result in better outcomes for the library and the university.