Even though it is difficult to find time to plan collaboration, librarians should collaborate with teachers because librarians have a better understanding of where and how to find information and teachers better understand how to deliver the information to students. In practice, teachers and librarians do collaborate in most schools. Collaboration goes beyond the hurried supportive statements at the library door or in the hallway; instead, it involves meeting with the teacher or group of teachers, planning out a unit or series of units or examining software, reading programs or other school-wide pursuits that might involve library materials.
Even though technologists generally understand software better than librarians, technology supports library science because librarians use computers and computer software, and mismatched hardware and software causes library program problems. Writers could examine ways the library and technology department could work together to better serve school or community. The paper might examine ways for technologists and librarians to collaborate, common-ground programs and the reasons why collaboration might be desirable.
Even though community collaboration programs can be very expensive, librarians should collaborate with the community because the library is dependent upon the community for support, should support the community with the type of materials it needs and community programs hosted by the library promote increased literacy. Collaboration with the local community can be a very rewarding process. In 1998 and 1999, the Springfield-Green County library system of Springfield, Missouri, collaborated with the City of Springfield to do a series of surveys, focus meetings and other events to invite community involvement in library planning. The result was two new library branches and major remodeling done to the libraries. The library system, as a whole, saw a jump in circulation and library usage thanks to new facilities and programs. Collaboration with the local community can be very powerful in terms of promoting and supporting the library.
Even though confidentiality might be compromised through sharing, librarians should collaborate with their government to store vital documents and other materials and to make governmental information available to be read. As any librarian who has taken a course in government documents knows, many American university libraries store documents for the U.S. government. Each year, the government generates many publications, fliers and other sorts of documents. The universities serve as a disbursement point for the information.
Libraries, by their very nature, must collaborate. Although the formats may be changing, and the jobs of librarians may change, the primary goal of a library is to store and to share objects. The items stored and shared may be as diverse as digital files, fiction, non-fiction, bound books, digital files, film files and even toys or pictures. The collaborative process implies a plan used to work with another entity to share data or resources.