O.D.+1.3

Online Discussion 1.3 - Benefits of Collaboration

After a lot of thinking, I finally picked one aspect that I thought was important for collaboration between librarians and their colleagues. Collection development is a huge component of an academic library (or any library for that matter) and with the technology and economic times changing, it is going to be more important to collaborate with peers. How is this collaboration a benefit to me personally? As a librarian, it is impossible to know each subject in-depth and be able to evaluate a collection for relevance, depth, and academic need. Collaborating with faculty members or those who specialize in their subject matter will get them in the library doors and make them become familiar with the library collection. With the faculty members’ knowing what is in the library collections, they can also relay information on to their students when they are asking questions. It’s a chance for me to work cohesively with my peers which is very important to me as well as learn something new about their department or subject matter. According to Tucker, Bullian and Torrence, “Collaborating with academic departments is a mutually beneficial process. First it helps librarians with their job of managing and selecting resources for the collection. Second, building relationships with academic departments can open the door for collaborative purchasing of library materials. Third, qualitative, byproduct can be achieved through collaboration.” (Tucker, et al, 2003) I have zero experience in working in an elementary or school library, but how can teachers and faculty members assist in your collection development?

Tucker, James Cory, Jeremy Bullian, and Matthew C. Torrence. "Collaborate or Die! Collection Development in Today's Academic Library." Reference Librarian 40.83/84 (2003): 219-236. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text. EBSCO. Web. 15 Sept. 2010.