Institutional leaders and managers need to anticipate and prepare for the effects of change. The most important factor in successful collaborations is human relationships. The biggest investment will not be in hardware or in software, but in people. Sustaining the culture of the collaboration requires attention, protection, and vigilant maintenance. As leaders, we must constantly reinforce the value of collaboration.
Librarians have a very important role to play in educational collaborations.
We are the original collaborators in higher education. We know and live collaboration. Individually we have some attributes that are critical to successful collaborations. Librarians are able to organize groups, organize information flows, communicate, and move groups forward. In the UWired collaboration at the University of Washington, librarians were somewhat surprised about how unique these skills and attributes were, and how critical they were for successful partnerships.