Going Outside to Get Inside
DEN Annual Library, Archive, and Museum
Conference
Rotterdam
Collaboration
9 December 2008
Diane M. Zorich
Cultural Heritage Consultant

Our journey starts with….

In the Beginning: Cabinets of Curiosity
Less democratic • Less economic • More integrated

Then: Libraries, Archives and Museums
More democratic • More economic • Less integrated

Now: One for All
Most democratic • Most economic • Most integrated

Now: One for All?

Collaboration Among Libraries, Archives and
Museums (LAMs)
www.oclc.org/programs/publications/reports/2008-05.pdf

Assumptions
• LAMs have commonalities
• Collections …..Needs…..Functions
• LAMs housed in a larger parent organization
more likely to collaborate
• The online world is a driving factor
• Time for action!

Goals
• To explore the nature of LAM collaborations
• How are they created and sustained?
• To help LAMs be more productive
• What common functions could be integrated to achieve greater
efficiencies?
• To help LAMs create environments more in line
with user expectations

Collaboration Continuum
Additive Transformative

Qualitative Methodology
• Background research
• Discussions with thought leaders
• Discussions with LAMs who are at the beginning of
the Collaboration Continuum
• Workshops with LAMs who are at the midpoint of
the Collaboration Continuum

Workshops
Princeton University
Smithsonian Institution
Yale University
University of Edinburgh
Victoria and Albert Museum

Their Vision
Experimentation sandboxes
Boundaries blend
Ubiquitous access
Centralized services Pooled expertise
Digital work environment
Single search
Cultural commons

Some of the Projects
• Comprehensive digitization of photograph
collections
• A “Federation of Collections”
• Exploration of federated search models (“single
search” across collections)
• “One Store” for digital assets
Will these projects succeed?

Collaboration Catalysts
Factors and circumstances that make it more
likely for collaborations to succeed
Vision --- Mandate --- Incentives --- Change Agents
Mooring --- Resources --- Flexibility
External Catalysts --- Trust

Catalyst: Vision
Collaborations must be
embedded in a larger
vision shared by all
Vision of St Bridget
Late 14th century. MS. M.498, f.4v.

Catalyst: Mandate
“I’m… looking for a few really good ideas that will help us
advance the mission and take [us] forward. [If you] come up
with a really, creative innovative vision that is at the
intersection of these institutions and will help our mission,
and you help me frame it, I’m more than ready to … carry it
forward.”
- Senior official
RLG LAM workshop site

Catalyst: Incentives
Some examples:
• Promotion
• Salaries
• Public and peer recognition

Catalyst: Mooring
© Michael Maggs
A home base, such as ..
• Administrative unit
• Committee
• Integrated department

Catalyst: Flexibility
Professionals who
understand collections
issues in libraries,
archives and museums…

Possible Next Steps
• Longitudinal study of projects proposed at the
workshop sites
• Collaborations among “standalone” LAMs
• Comparative studies
• the sciences, academic humanities

Going Outside
You are here
and here
Your users are here

Transformational Change through Collaboration

Acknowledgements
• RLG Programs/OCLC
Especially my colleagues and co-authors:
• Günter Waibel, Program Officer
• Ricky Erway, Senior Program Officer
• The many professionals who participated in the RLG
LAM workshops and discussions