Sharing Control, Embracing Collaboration: Cross-Campus Partnerships for Library Website Design and Management

Abstract

Cross-campus collaboration for library website design and management can be challenging, but the process can produce stronger, more attractive, and more usable library websites. Collaborative library website design and management can also lead to new avenues for marketing library tools and services; expert consultation for library technology implementation; improved collegiality, respect, and communication between departments; and a richer understanding of patron needs. Recommended best practices for positive and productive cross-campus collaborations include assuming positive intent, thinking holistically, acknowledging and appreciating others' abilities, observing one another at work, and collecting and using data to drive decision making.In the summer of 2009, librarians and University Relations (UR) Web specialists at Azusa Pacific University (APU) worked together to redesign the University libraries' website. As a result of this collaboration, the University libraries were able to present a stable, attractive, feature-rich, and patron-friendly website to students and faculty at the start of the 2009-2010 academic year.A stronger, more usable library website was just one of the benefits of cooperation between librarians and campus Web specialists. Cross-campus collaboration in the library website redesign process at APU has also led to new avenues for marketing library tools and services; expert consultation for library technology implementation; improved collegiality, respect, and communication between departments; and a richer understanding of patron needs.The goal of this article is to describe a successful cross-campus collaborative approach to library website redesign and management and to demonstrate that this collaboration was ultimately beneficial to the library and its patrons. This article also attempts to address the library literature's lack of best practices for cross-campus Web design partnerships; as such, the "Discussion and Recommendations" section below offers experience-based suggestions for librarians interested in pursuing such collaborative relationships. LITERATURE REVIEWAlthough many articles have been written on the topic of library website design and management, the library literature does not appear to contain much information about

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