“Convergence and collaboration enable an academic library to be more fully engaged with its campus and perhaps beyond – on a local, state, regional, or national level – and to better achieve the educational mission of the library and its parent institution”. Following this observation, Convergence and Collaboration seeks to engage managers in enhancing their services through both convergence and collaboration.
In the introduction Peter Hernon and Ronald Powell explain the rationale and objectives of a study in which they identified types of convergence between academic libraries and campus units. As background to the chapters reporting on case studies, they provide a brief review of each of the 11 case studies to follow. Through these case studies they succeed well in highlighting the challenges and scope of convergence and collaboration from different perspectives. The fact that convergence is not limited to renovation projects or joint service units within a library is actually well reflected in their selection of case studies which clearly illustrate that collaborative spaces can be found in various places – both physical and virtual. It can include a variety of partnerships such as with IT departments, departments specialising in instructional technology, academic departments, campus centres for learning, teaching or writing and even student and food services.
The first case study is based on collaboration initiatives at the University of California‐Irvine and explains that innovation is an ongoing process and that it requires technological as well as programmatic convergence. The second case study discusses efforts at the Georgia Institute of Technology. It stresses the importance to recognise motivators, to reshape facilities and to refocus services. The case study reporting on experiences at the University of Michigan – Dearborn, Mardigian Library explores creating conditions for success, dealing with changes in the organisational structure as well as issues of organisational and staff development and campus outreach programmes.
For the report on the University of Calgary the emphasis is on the convergence of the library, museum, archives and press, which naturally brought its own challenges, including the planning of the strategic transformation and building for the future to include an information and learning commons. The WEB du Bois Library at the University of Massachusetts also reports on creating a learning commons with collaboration from various sectors across the campus. Attention is especially given to pedagogy and faculty, the student and academic support and internal library operations. For the University of Georgia the focus is on the history and development of the Student Learning Center.
The Columbia University Libraries are depicted as an information service enterprise with the emphasis on the organisational context, converging various units and dealing with trends. In the discussion on Yale University, the emphasis is on the curriculum reform and the growth of interdisciplinary studies, research support required and how these can affect the configuration of space. The case study reported from Suffolk University concerns their Poetry Center, with the last case study reflecting on initiatives from the University of Arizona AgNIC experience and collaborative initiatives to deliver agricultural information.
Apart from the references following various chapters, Convergence and Collaboration concludes with a good bibliography that can stimulate further reading, as well as a good index.
Hernon and Powell aptly conclude:
Yet what is truly exiting is that this new perspective of the library does not fully represent what academic libraries have become. Undoubtedly, as this century progresses, the foundations identified in this book will expand and demonstrate new strategic directions – ones that will make the library even more integral to campus life.
In agreement with their conclusion, Convergence and Collaboration is recommended to all managers of academic libraries willing to take up the challenges of the twenty‐first century.
