Successful partnerships for academic libraries

Working relationships between academic libraries and external organizations, such as academic departments, businesses, local institutions, and government agencies, are growing in popularity and becoming more necessary in a climate where libraries are seeing decreasing budgets and perception of relevance to the university community. These partnerships, if carried out well, create mutually beneficial situations where both organizations can have a greater impact by pooling their resources and expertise with others’ resources and expertise. The keys to a successful partnership include defining the partnership, establishing criteria, and evaluating the partnership. While there is sufficient literature on partnerships in general, there is little published research on partnerships between academic libraries and external organizations. This paper offers examples and suggestions, some from academic libraries themselves and others from alternative organizations, for libraries wanting to create and sustain productive partnerships.