Professional support services are having to evolve quickly to meet the new demands of the rapidly changing higher education environment. It is within this context of professional support services that libraries are exploring new ways to meet, support and enhance the information needs of today's higher education students and the faculty who teach them. A variety of methods and prototypes are being developed to provide effective and sustainable support services, and both the principles behind them and the practice of providing them are useful tools for those now delving into this area. Collaboration has been identified as a critical issue, binding together libraries, learning services and the wider learning environment. Melling and Weaver have produced a collection of essays about this environment, providing an overview of the issues involved in this changing field and case studies of service provision and collaboration. They highlight the broad range of avenues opening up within professional support services in higher education.
The ten authored chapters begin with the wider context of higher education and consider perspectives from students and professional associations before moving on to a variety of case studies. The book explores leadership skills, technology and convergence in relation to collaboration with others in the learning environment, and finally super-convergence and transformational change, to complete a rounded picture of this emerging field.
Two chapters that represent the flavour of the whole work are Melling's Collaborative service provision through super-convergence, and Roberts and Esson's Leadership skills for collaboration: future needs and challenges. Collaborative service is a case study from a typical UK university which considers student support from the student's perspective. Super-convergence describes the bringing together of “a range of support activities that are generally focussed on student support and are structurally converged” (p. 150), and the ensuing discussion of possible models and the practical experience of working with this kind of convergence is explored objectively and discussed thoughtfully over the course of the chapter.
Roberts and Esson's Leadership skills considers various aspects and styles of leadership needed for successful collaboration. They argue that leadership across traditional boundaries of service delivery requires specific skills and attributes for such collaboration to work while still preserving diversity and authenticity in leadership. A short case study is presented to highlight these attributes in context. This well-researched chapter provides a useful synopsis of the key points on this particular issue, of value to those looking models to follow when entering the collaborative environment.
All in all, this volume provides multiple perspectives on libraries working collaboratively with others to deliver effective and efficient professional support services in the learning environment. It is positioned to identify avenues for libraries to enter or expand their presence within the area of collaborative support services. Of the smorgasbord of topics available, there will something of value for academic libraries regardless of the level of their current involvement in this field. It is recommended for academic librarians and library management working or wanting to work collaboratively to provide effective and sustainable learner support services in higher education.
