Collaboration in Libraries and Learning Environments

Melling (operations, U. of Gloucestershire, UK) and Weaver (library and student services, U. of Cumbria, UK) provide library leaders and practitioners, as well as students, with an overview of the issues involved in collaboration in higher education libraries. In 10 essays, library and information services and other specialists from the UK, US, Canada, and Australasia consider alternative approaches to providing library and support services in a time of uncertainty due to shifts in financial and fiscal policies. They argue that successful libraries optimize opportunities for collaboration at every level, discussing the role of the student voice in the delivery of higher education, the role of professional associations in providing guidance and support to higher education leaders, the cultures and values that underpin collaborative working, managing complex change collaboratively, the significance of leadership, the effects of collaborative technology tools on student experiences of the library, learning-space design, super-converged services, and joint-use libraries. Distributed in the US by Neal-Schuman. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)