Library Partnerships and Organizational Culture: A Case Study

ABSTRACT

Uncovered in the course of a 2011 study looking at partnerships between academic and public libraries in Canada was a unique series of partnerships among a college library, public library, regional library system, and school district library system in Medicine Hat, Alberta. With little or no additional funding, these libraries have partnered to deliver library services beneficial to both their primary clients and the broader community. Through a case study of the libraries, it is possible to determine the value and the challenges of partnerships and the elements of organizational culture necessary for successful partnerships.     

Looking at an Insurance Library:

Information on products, markets, distribution channels, sales management, the production and survival of sales personnel, sales results, consumer preferences, and purchasing habits is the lifeblood of the Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association's business. The library is its best-known information service and member companies are encouraged to use the library as a resource. The library provides information on all facets of marketing operations, based on a collection of materials covering all distribution systems. The library also works to stay on top of new developments in group insurance, pension, and health insurance marketing as well as those relating to individual life insurance.     

International Partnerships: Value,Benefits, and the Library Administrator's Role

ABSTRACT

Many libraries in the US and abroad have formed Sister Library partnerships with libraries in other regions of the world. Some have been very successful and are still ongoing; others have run their course once initial needs were met or the primary leaders retired or moved to other libraries. Few articles published on these partnerships discuss the successes and pitfalls from the perspective of the library administrator. In this article, the authors describe best practices from the point of library administration and how to develop a relationship that is long-lasting and successful.     

Academic Library Outreach Through Faculty Partnerships and Web-Based Research Aids

Summary

Electronic library services and myriad online resources are shifting the roles and workloads of academic reference librarians. Reallocation of staffing through a differentiated reference desk service model provides time to author curriculum-centered online research guides and tutorials, bibliographies, and webliographies. The expanding electronic information environment also opens new opportunities for teaching partnerships with university faculty. This article showcases a librarian's collaborative work with a history professor, noting student benefits/reactions and implications for future collaboration.     

From Cooperation to Collaboration: Toward a Framework for Deepening Library Partnerships

Abstract

Librarians are encouraged to collaborate in their work, but examples in LIS literature suggests the term “collaboration” is applied to a range of activities that vary widely in terms of interaction, resource-sharing, cooperative planning, and cooperative service delivery. Collaboration has been studied in other fields but remains largely unexplored beyond case studies in LIS. Through a series of focus groups with librarians and a range of potential community partners, this research identified barriers to collaboration and factors that enable successful partnerships, resulting in a general framework that could act as a guide to planning and developing deep collaborations.     

Refocusing Reference Services Outside the Library Building: One Library's Experience

In response to changing user needs, the library sought ways to meet new challenges and engage users outside of the building. Librarians were removed from the service desk in order to offer support at locations around campus. The service desk in the library was staffed primarily by paraprofessionals with librarians providing support as needed. Targeted staff training was offered, and different scheduling models were used over a period of time. Restructuring the service desk was a complicated endeavor but provided a number of benefits including expansion of services. Along the way, challenges were met and recognized as learning opportunities.     

Haramaya University Library and Information Services: Looking back to look forward

Over the last decade, a number of trends and paradigm shifts have been witnessed in academic libraries worldwide. This paper reports on the history and current status of an Ethiopian academic library, Haramaya University Library and Information Services (HULIS). It explores bold issues, trends, and paradigm shifts that have been accruing worldwide with respect to HULIS and attempts to envision HULIS in the not-too-distant future. Finally, it sets forth future directions that can serve as a road map to transform HULIS in particular and Ethiopian university libraries in general.     

我与我馆--五十年经历回顾

１９９８年８月１５日,是辽宁省图书馆（前身是东北图书馆）开馆５０周年的纪念日。东北图书馆筹备开馆时我即是工作人员之一,又是从辽宁省图书馆离休的,可以说我一生的精华时间都献给了辽宁省图书馆,也可以说我的一生与辽宁省图书馆有密不可分的关系。从感情出发,我...     

Financial Literacy and the Academic Library: Exploring the Peer-to-Peer Approach

Colleges and universities employ a variety of strategies to deliver financial education to students. Among these approaches is peer-to-peer financial education, which has been explored in many settings but never in an academic library. Following a review of financial literacy approaches used on college and university campuses by libraries, and other units and departments, this article describes the Student Financial Education Center located at Pennsylvania State University Libraries and discusses the unique challenges and opportunities of implementing a peer-to-peer financial education program in this setting.     

The IFLA Trend Report: Looking Beyond the Walls in Library Planning

Strategic planning requires us to stop and take a closer look at our organizations and consider the impact that changes in the profession are causing, influenced by the society around us. These considerations lead us past our library walls, past our institutional walls and into a more speculative world of changes in the technological society. Scholars and pundits have provided us with many scenarios for the future, including a world of solely electronic resources and hyper-connected users. But how closely does this match reality and what are the trends in our larger society that will affect how we work in the future. This article provides an overview of several reports on the students and technologies that we work with and closely explores the IFLA Trend Report. The report was developed after discussions with individuals representing many non-academic, non-library organizations and provides us with a view of the larger trends forecast for the information society. The report is envisioned as a living document that invites further comment and wider distribution to the library world and beyond.     

公共图书馆馆外流通服务工作的实践与体会

本文总结了馆外流通服务工作的实践和意义,对馆外流通服务的形式、基本途径、发展方向提出建议。     

知识集合初论——对图书馆学研究对象的探索

人的知识主要来自客观知识世界。知识集合是把客观知识按一定原则有序组合起来的集成体 ,是人类获取知识的重要媒介。图书馆的实质就是知识集合。确定知识集合为图书馆学的研究对象 ,对图书馆学的发展会有巨大的推动作用。参考文献 13。     

数字图书馆共建共享探微

目前，我国数字图书馆在共建共享过程中还存在一些相关问题，本文旨在对数字图书馆的共建共享有关问题进行分析与研究，以期实现数字图书馆的共建共享。     

Meeting Information Needs through Global Partnerships: A Roadmap to Becoming a Global Health Sciences Library

Abstract

Supporting global health priorities through the development of robust health science librarianship partnerships is of significant importance. Increased demand for synthesizing evidence-based information, collating quality resources, and increasing research productivity to improve human health requires integration of library and information science skills and expertise. The Health Sciences Library (HSL) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), exists to be an indispensable partner in health information and knowledge, teaching and learning, and research. As global efforts at UNC expanded, the HSL sought to ensure that our global engagement strategy and integration were aligned with campus priorities and partner needs. The HSL created a global research partnership plan: identify resources that improve efficiency, increase access to information, build in-country capacity and expertise—all while strengthening collaborations across multiple countries. Creating a meaningful and sustainable engagement strategy was central to envisioning our path forward and can be used as a framework for consideration by librarians in similar settings.     

图书馆学专门研究方法:从困惑看发展

本文从图书馆学专门研究方法的历史和现实切入，探索图书馆学在专门方法研究徘徊不前的原因，提出要高度重视图书馆学专门方法研究，并指明其重大意义。     

迈向图书馆行业自律时代——关于图书馆职业道德与图书馆权利的几点思考

图书馆行业自律是保障公民图书馆权利的前提条件之一.从图书馆职业的本质和当前的社会形势来看,中国图书馆的行业自律主要包括职业道德、图书馆权利、知识产权和廉洁自律四个方面.图书馆职业道德是行业自律的核心,应该完善图书馆职业道德体系,建立图书馆行业自律组织.图书馆权利观念是未来中国图书馆事业的发展方向,保护知识产权、合理利用信息资源有利于维护公民的图书馆权利,而图书馆资源采购的廉洁自律是当前图书馆行业自律的重点工作之一.参考文献17.     

Improving Library Resource Discovery: Exploring the Possibilities of VuFind and Web-Scale Discovery

Like many libraries, the Bridge Consortium (the shared library of Carleton College and St. Olaf College) had outgrown the existing catalog and needed to find an improved search interface for collections. Seeking something that would work with the existing Innovative Interfaces Inc.'s Millennium integrated library system, researchers explored everything from catalog enhancements provided by Innovative Interfaces to a completely separate, Web-scale discovery tool. For the past year, they worked to implement VuFind as a catalog overlay, continually customizing and enhancing it based on user feedback. At the same time, they continued to research a broader solution and recommended a discovery tool to their consortium leadership group that they believe will redefine student research at their colleges and give new shape and direction to their consortium. By thinking of discovery as more than a product and staggering their implementation, they were better able to meet their consortium's needs. This article details their evaluation process and provides reflection on the decisions made. Many libraries are considering Web-scale discovery products. As part of the process, they confront questions about open source tools, Web site redesigns, incorporating user feedback, and consortial needs. The researchers hope to contribute to these libraries' processes by outlining their process and considerations, and what they learned along the way to arrive at their current solution.