Advances in Librarianship theme issue on Mergers, Alliances, Collaborations, and Partnerships
Dear Colleagues, (from Anne Woodsworth)
Dave Penniman and I, co-editors of Advances in Librarianship, and would like to receive chapter proposals for volume 36, to be published in 2013 on the theme of Mergers, Alliances, Collaborations, and Partnerships.
While corporate mergers make headlines, similar efforts in library and information
science are less vociferously touted. They are occurring, however, amongst libraries, degree programs, and enterprises such as networks and consortia. Public libraries partner with community groups in order to strengthen the political clout of both. They are occurring as governments mandate consolidation of operations amongst agencies under their purview in order to reduce or curtail expenditures. Academic libraries are partnering with other internal units such as writing centers and externally with agencies such as research laboratories. They are also collaborating with peer institutions to develop resources in developing collections instead of competing and duplicating materials in their collections. North America has experienced increasing numbers of public library and museum collaborations as well as public library and school media centers partnerships. Regional networks have consolidated operations and become larger entities. This volume of Advances in Librarianship seeks to provide a comprehensive review of the factors that lead to mergers and other alliances, the methods used to ensure effective and successful collaborations, and descriptions of the factors which contributed to less successful efforts at consolidation. Original research, case studies, literature reviews and conceptual papers are sought as chapters for this volume.
Topics of interest for proposed chapters can include, but are not limited to, the following:
• Structural and operational mergers such as technical services and collection management in two or more library and information science environments;
• The impact and benefits of expanding electronic tools such as social networks, and shared digital spaces such as Dropbox and Google Docs on blended or joint initiatives;
• Experiences in higher education with combining programs and other educational experiences for students and faculty across disciplines and spanning two or more institutions;
• The fiscal results of mergers and multi-institutional operations amongst groups of libraries of all kinds;
• Policy, work reallocation and structural changes within merging operations;
• Research about corporate experiences and the lessons or guidance they can provide for the not for profit sector;
• Changes in workflow and organizational structures and other behavioral issues arising in merged organizations;
• The lessons, successes and failures in creating teams across previously separate organizations;
• Human resource implications and impact on unions in settings that have joint or merged services and operations;
• Studies of the factors that stimulated formation of merged entities, alliances amongst diverse groups/entities.
Proposals can be in the form of an abstract or an outline.
Please submit chapter proposals to the Editors at awoodsworth@emeraldinsight.com or alwoods10@gmail.com and dpenniman@emeraldinsight.com or dave_penniman@yahoo.com
Questions and comments should be submitted via e-mail to us.
The due dates are:
For chapter proposal outlines: April 1, 2012
For first drafts of chapters: September 1, 2012
For final drafts of chapters after receipt of editorial comments: December 1, 2012
