Presentation delivered at both the 2008 Nebraska Library Association Paraprofessional Section Spring Meeting and at the 2008 NLA/NEMA Fall Conference. Abstract: Every library has invisible barriers that dampen cooperation, from the division between public services and technical services to the division between paraprofessionals and librarians. Communication and cross-training are the keys to bridging those divides. Communication takes many forms, and multiple approaches reinforce each other. Casual communication includes conversation with people from other departments, such as hallway chats and informal meetings. Formal, library-wide communication includes the use of e-mail aliases, discussion lists, blogs, wikis, meetings, staff forums, and newsletters. Cross-training comes in three flavors: positional clarification (telling), positional modeling (showing), and positional rotation (doing). Any of these styles can enhance understanding of one another's jobs. Even library-shaking events such as strategic planning and departmental reorganizations can be used as opportunities to build alliances between departments. A library where employees regularly talk and interact across departmental lines is much stronger than a mere collection of departments.

1. Putting Together the Pieces @ Your Library: Your Library is More than the Sum of its Departments by Angela Kroeger Access & Metadata Project Coordinator Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Library, University of Nebraska at Omaha [email_address] NLA Paraprofessional Section 2008 Spring Meeting March 19, 2008

6. Image source: I Can Has Cheezburger? (http://www.icanhascheezburger.com) Used with permission.

8. Team Performance Coordination And Backup Processes Shared Mental Models Cross- Training The Pearl Adapted from Michelle A. Marks, et al. “The Impact of Cross-Training on Team Effectiveness.” Journal of Applied Psychology , vol. 87, No. 1 (2002), p. 3-13.

13. Screen shot of my library’s internal wiki.

16. I don’t have a slide to go with restructuring, so please enjoy this moment of Zen. Radhošt’, Czech Republic, October 2005.

20. “ Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” Henry Ford

21. “ No one can whistle a symphony. It takes an orchestra to play it.” H.E. Luccock

22. “ The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” George Bernard Shaw

23. “ The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said.” Peter F. Drucker