The Value of Partnerships: Building New Partnerships for Success

Abstract

In today's economy, higher education institutions are struggling to maintain quality while functioning with fewer resources. For libraries, the economic situation is compounded by the impact of an information marketplace that is characterized by prices for resources that increase at 7 to 10% per year, and by near and actual monopolies controlling content. Added to the complexities of the marketplace are the demands of a faculty and student body that prefer individual actions to group efforts. These economic and social issues can become real barriers to innovation, quality improvement, and successful services for today's libraries. One way to combat the economic and social environment is by creating new and improved partnerships to leverage resources and share expertise in order to provide better services and access to wider collections. But forming partnerships is not easy. This paper will review the characteristics of successful partnership as developed by the Gallup Corporation and will show how these values can be used in the academic library environment to create opportunities for success.

Building Bridges with Boats: Preserving Community History through Intra- and Inter-Institutional Collaboration

“…Coordination, Cooperation, and Strategic Collaboration Giesecke (2012), referencing organizational models within the management literature and the work of Montiel-Overall (2005), draws a distinction among coordination, cooperation, and collaboration. Coordination, the least integrated of the three models, focuses on working together to realize efficiencies.…”

Successful partnerships for academic libraries

“…If too many of the criteria are weak or absent, then perhaps the members should decide not to enter the partnership, at least until they can improve the conditions. Giesecke (2012) states, "When an activity involves uncertainty and requires frequent investments of time or money that cannot be easily transferred to other functions, it may be best to leave the activity within the organization" (p. 38). Some partnerships do not recognize this mistake until they are too deeply invested in the end goal to turn back, so it is wise to honestly evaluate the factors before proceeding.…”

“…Joan Giesecke (2012) adds that partners should have "shared visions, shared power, and consensus decision-making" (p. 37). And Michael Schrage adds, "The true medium of collaboration is other people" (Giesecke, 2012, p. 39).…”

Library Partnerships and Organizational Culture: A Case Study

“…In addition, there is the concept of mutual benefit (Giesecke, 2012), or what Borek and colleagues (2006) describe as "'selfish' but positive reasons: to leverage shrinking budgets, to learn from each other, to build better tools together and, most importantly, to serve their common users better by taking advantage of one another's collections" (p. 456). The Gallup Corporation has outlined seven key factors for successful partnerships: common mission, fairness, trust, acceptance, forgiveness, communication, and unselfishness (as outlined in Giesecke, 2012). Kanter (1994) speaks of other requirements for successful partnerships such as the creation and maintenance of personal relationships between the senior leaders in an organization.…”

“…According to Giesecke (2012) "the focus of the partnership is on shared objectives and not just shared power" (p. 39). In addition, there is the concept of mutual benefit (Giesecke, 2012), or what Borek and colleagues (2006) describe as "'selfish' but positive reasons: to leverage shrinking budgets, to learn from each other, to build better tools together and, most importantly, to serve their common users better by taking advantage of one another's collections" (p. 456). The Gallup Corporation has outlined seven key factors for successful partnerships: common mission, fairness, trust, acceptance, forgiveness, communication, and unselfishness (as outlined in Giesecke, 2012).…”