The Libraries Thriving Learning Community, organized by Credo Reference and LYRASIS, invites members to think about and engage on key current issues with the aim of developing approaches, solutions and responses that demonstrate the effectiveness of individual library professionals as well as libraries' effectiveness within the institutions of which they are a part. Since February, community participants have been engaging in a variety of interactions, primarily online, to explore and experiment with the kinds of individual and institutional actions needed for libraries to thrive. Join this session to learn about this innovative online collaboration and to hear details about how you can join a similar group in an upcoming learning community.

1. Learning Through
Community Effort
Collaboration for Increased Project
Success
June 25, 2012

2. Best Practices
1. E-mail laura.warren@credoreference.com with
Libraries Thriving questions or comments.
2. Share comments and questions in the chatbox.
3. Visit the Libraries Thriving Discussion Forum to
continue the conversation after today‟s session
Online Seminar Series—Summer 2012

3. The Background
Online Seminar Series—Summer 2012

4. Top Five Reasons for
Participating in a Learning
Community
1. The Ideas
2. The People
3. The Connections
4. The Accountability
5. The Success
Online Seminar Series—Summer 2012

5. 1. The Ideas
Librarian-Faculty Collaboration, Library Design,
Educational Technology—what other topics would
you like to cover?
Online Seminar Series—Summer 2012

6. 2. The People
Online Seminar Series—Summer 2012

7. 3. The Connections
Online Seminar Series—Summer 2012

8. 4. The Accountability
Project
Log
Online Seminar Series—Summer 2012

9. 5. The Success
Online Seminar Series—Summer 2012

10. LESSONS LEARNED
Caitlin Bakker
Wilfrid Laurier University
cbakker@wlu.ca

11. Reasons for Collaboration
• Interdependence
• Resources
• Expertise
• Power
• Politics
• Risk-Taking

12. Types of Collaboration
• little c collaboration (between individuals)
• Big C Collaboration (between organizations)
• Middle ground between the two? (between
departments and groups)

13. “If the academic library is at the center of
a liberal education, then librarians must
aggressively pursue options to partner
with teaching faculty and others….”
(Harvey & Dewald, 1997)

14. • Collaboration to reflect changes in higher
education
• The shift to considering the social construction
of knowledge (see Nussbaum, 2008)
• Not only acting as collaborators, but facilitating
that movement for students, faculty, etc.

15. Design of Physical Space
• The physical design of libraries to support the
social dimensions of learning
• The library as building the university community
and acting as a third place
• Places which “exist outside the home and beyond
the „work lots‟ of modern economic production.
They are places where people gather primarily to
enjoy each other‟s company (Oldenburg & Brisett,
1982, 269)

16. Creation of Digital Space
• The Three Rs have been replaced by the Three
Cs: Contributing, Collaborating, and Creating
• A means of overcoming limitations (time,
distance, budget, etc.)
• A way of serving the enormous projected
growth of students (263 million by 2025)

17. Take Away
Librarianship is an
inherently collaborative
profession. We need
to embrace and
expand on this in all of
its manifestations in
order to best meet the
needs of our users and
institutions.

18. References
• Bennett, S. (2006). The choice for learning. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 32(1): 3-13.
• Gjelten, D. (2012). Academic library design. Presentation for Libraries Thriving. April 11, 2012.
• Hargadon, S. (2009). Educational networking: The important role web 2.0 will play in education.
Retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/stevehargadon/d/24161189-Educational-Networking-The-
Important-Role-Web-2-0-Will-Play-in-Education
• Hargadon, S. (2012). Educational technology. Presentation for Libraries Thriving. May 9, 2012.
• Harvey, K. & Dewald, N. (1997). Collaborating with faculty in preparing students for the
asynchronous classroom. Retrieved from
http://www.ala.org/acrl/publications/whitepapers/nashville/harveydewald
• Oldenburg, R. & Brissett, D. (1982). The third place. Qualitative Sociology, 5(4): 265-284.
• Nevins, K. (2012). Collaboration. Presentation for Libraries Thriving. April 24, 2012.
• Nussbaum, E.M. (2008). Collaborative discourse, argumentation, and learning: Preface and
literature review. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 33(3): 345-359.