LAUSR

For academic libraries, effective collaboration is no longer an option but a necessity. The world around academic libraries is changing rapidly (Pinfield, Cox, & Rutter, 2017). In universities there are financial cutbacks, pressures for accountability, changes in pedagogy, and increasing client expectations particularly around the student experience (Hickman, 2017). Rapidly changing technologies, in areas such as social media and mobile technologies, are impacting on how, where, and when students and staff access university services. More fundamentally, the services university libraries have traditionally provided can be seen as under threat. The resources and support provided by libraries in the digital age can often be invisible, students and researchers increasingly consider themselves self-sufficient in information skills, the library can be seen as less important as a physical entity, and there are alternative sources of information for learners and researchers particularly given open access developments. There are also increasing institutional threats: Vice Chancellors and senior university managers will become less tolerant of independent or silo working if efficiencies and value for money are to be delivered (Universities UK, 2015). However, there are also opportunities: different university departments and libraries in different universities are facing common problems and common pressures. Many current issues and developments on the horizon are too large and complex for any department or library to deal with on their own. Partnerships across departments or across institutions can help to deliver services that meet client needs and institutional strategies and objectives effectively, efficiently, and innovatively. What are the benefits of greater collaboration for academic libraries? What are the constraints and barriers? And, how can academic libraries plan for success in their collaborative initiatives? In putting together a recent volume on collaboration and academic libraries (Atkinson, 2018), I sought out case studies on a range of different collaborative activities,