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Libraries, archives and museums: catalysts along the collaboration continuum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2016

Günter Waibel ,
Diane M. Zorich  and
Ricky Erway
Günter Waibel*
Affiliation:
RLG Programs, OCLC, San Mateo, CA 94404, USA
Diane M. Zorich
Affiliation:
Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
Ricky Erway
Affiliation:
RLG Programs, OCLC, San Mateo, CA 94404, USA
*
Email: waibelg@oclc.org
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Abstract

How do you turn library, archive and museum collaboration from a good idea into reality? And what are the benefits of collaborative action to begin with? This article introduces the increasing rewards and risks of interdependent working relationships along the collaboration continuum, and highlights the institutional and environmental catalysts which foster collaborative action. Use these insights to assess where your institution is on the path to deeper collaboration, and which obstacles you may still need to address!

Type
Research Article
Information
Art Libraries Journal , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , 2009 , pp. 17 - 20
Copyright
Copyright © The Art Libraries Society 2009

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References

1. Examples of conferences are the 2005 RLG members forum, ‘Libraries, Archives & Museums - Three-ring Circus, One Big Show?’ (http://tinyurl.com/66me4q) and the 2006 Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) conference, ‘Libraries, Archives and Museums in the Twenty-first Century: Intersecting Missions, Converging Futures?’ (http://www.rbms.info/conferences/preconferences/2006/). Co-ordinated issues of Library quarterly, Archival science ana Museum management and curatorship on the topic of LAM convergence are slated to be published in the fall of 2009.Google Scholar
2. In a UK context, the Museums and Galleries Commission (MGC) and the Library and Information Commission (LIC) were combined in 2000 to create the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA). In a US context, the Institute of Museum and Library Services was created by combining the Institute of Museum Services and the Library Programs Office in 1996.Google Scholar
3. Some notable examples: apart from the MLA, the Collections Trust (formerly the mda) now includes LAMs in its rhetoric and remit. UKOLN has just launched a new resource website at http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/cultural-heritage/ to benefit LAMs.Google Scholar
4. In Europe, project MICHAEL is a high-profile example of an integrated access environment, and a recent I FLA report titled Public libraries, archives and museums: trends in collaboration and cooperation (http://www.ifla.org/VII/s8/pub/Profrepl08.pdf) contains a plethora of examples of collaboration.Google Scholar
5. The following discussion is derived from the section ‘Collaboration continuum’ in the OCLC Programs and Research report Beyond the silos of the LAMs: collaboration among libraries, archives and museums, by Zorich, Diane M., Waibel, Günter and Ricky Erway, (Dublin, Ohio: OCLC Programs and Research, 2008), http://www.oclc.org/programs/publications/reports/2008-05.pdf.Google Scholar
6. Schrage, Michael, Shared minds: the new technologies of collaboration (New York: Random House, 1990), 140.Google Scholar
7. Ibid.Google Scholar
8. Soehner, Kenneth, ‘Out of the ring and into the future: the power of collaboration,’ (paper presented at the 2005 RLG members forum ‘Libraries, Archives & Museums - Three-ring Circus, One Big Show?’ July 14, 2005), 7 (http://tinyurl.com/5gckfb).Google Scholar
9. For more information see http://www.oclc.org/programs/about/default.htm.Google Scholar
10. Zorich, Diane M., Waibel, Günter, and Erway, Ricky, Beyond the silos of the LAMs: collaboration among libraries, archives and museums, OCLC Programs and Research report (Dublin, Ohio: OCLC Programs and Research, 2008), http://www.oclc.org/programs/publications/reports/2008-05.pdf.Google Scholar