Working relationships between academic libraries and external organizations, such as academic departments, businesses, local institutions, and government agencies, are growing in popularity and becoming more necessary in a climate where libraries are seeing decreasing budgets and perception of relevance to the university community. These partnerships, if carried out well, create mutually beneficial situations where both organizations can have a greater impact by pooling their resources and expertise with others' resources and expertise. The keys to a successful partnership include defining the partnership, establishing criteria, and evaluating the partnership. While there is sufficient literature on partnerships in general, there is little published research on partnerships between academic libraries and external organizations. This paper offers examples and suggestions, some from academic libraries themselves and others from alternative organizations, for libraries wanting to create and sustain productive partnerships.
annual conference when it was in Chicago. Mr. Parker then took the initiative to invite them to speak at AALL. The event's format was particularly effective. It was a workshop that combined short lectures on each of the six terms mixed with small-group, hands-on work at the individual tables. For the hands-on work, the entire group was asked a question or a series of questions that was discussed at each table. The tables then reported back to the whole group. This format was effective because it gave the attendees the opportunity to discuss how electronic resources were managed in their individual libraries. The majority of participants were from academic law libraries, but each seemed to have different staffing levels and organizational structures. Other participants were from law firm libraries, county law libraries, and court libraries. Regardless of the differences in staffing levels, number of resources, or organizational structure, the participants all seemed to have similar issues. Having the opportunity to discuss these issues at a table and then share with the group maximized the collective knowledge and experience of the attendees and provided insight into handling difficult, common problems.
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