No person is an island. Cooperation is a key theme for the future, and all information professionals are going to have to function as collaborators. Increasingly we are going to deal with unfamiliar people, remote users, about whom we have no prior knowledge. Moreover, we are going to have to learn how to collaborate with these new people in very short periods of time, in fact, in a transitory period of time. To do that we have to have a deep understanding of needs and capabilities, our own and our collaborators'.
Collaboration is a two-way street.
We cannot ignore our responsibilities for recognizing what we do or do not bring to the table. This leads to a word of caution. I have been a proponent of collaborating activities for many years and have always made it a point in my own work to identify and establish relationships with others interested in working collaboratively. Nonetheless, I am concerned that we be careful that teamwork and collaboration do not become excuses to avoid decision-making and accountability by the individual. Teaming and collaboration are not appropriate for every activity or every decision that needs to be made.