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Tactics for Teamwork and Cooperation: a metaphor from 19th century Arizona

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Arizona Convocation
February 27, 1999
Sierra Vista, AZ
Ann Okerson
Ann.Okerson@yale.edu

The Metaphor

The Lesson From Arizona

This 1970 movie tells the story of seven highly individualistic, strong-willed, and talented individuals who manage to put aside their egos and differences to work for a common and noble good -- riding down into Mexico to save a village from the bandits.

We may not want to imagine that the kind of cooperation we talk about here will end in a shootout, but we can learn from their tenacity.

Long Ago Visions of Cooperation

Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward 2000-1888

I cannot sufficiently celebrate the glorious liberty that reigns in the public libraries of the twentieth century as compared with the intolerable management of those of the nineteenth century, in which the books were jealously railed away form the people, and obtainable only at an expenditure of time and red tape calculated to discourage any ordinary taste for literature. (1888)

"Universal Library: A Plea for Placing any Desired Book within the Reach of any Person Wishing to make Reasonable Use of Same." Public Libraries 10 (1905): 129-132

Seven Magnificent Examples

• Alexandria lends materials to Pergamum
• TRLN (North Carolina), 1930s
• CRL starts in 1940s?
• OCLC starts in 1960s
• OhioLink/CIC/NERL 1990s
• Your institution and mine
• Arizona new initiatives

Consortia for All Reasons:

1970 Study by US office of Education re. nationwide academic library consortia

• 1931 - 1940 - 2
• 1941 - 1950 - 3
• 1951 - 1960 - 5
• 1961 - 1971- 116 (computer age begins)

ITAL Issue, Information Technology and Libraries: 17/no.1, March 1998, Special issue on library consortia

ARL Cooperation Survey, 8/1998

• 76 Libraries Respond
• 58 have Cooperative Projects
• 37 agreements with 15 or more institutions
• Average no. of agreements is 4.3
• Diverse in nature
• Purposes identified:
  Expand collections, increase buying power, use existing relationships, pressure from funders, seize opportunities, strengthen collections & services, save money

Cooperation & the Yale Library

• A huge system of 22 libraries acting as one
• Drivers:
  • access to special collections in library & university via finding aids, digitizing, etc.
  • developing preservation strategies
  • maximizing use of area studies materials
  • supporting teaching & publication projects
  • making available electronic resources-affordably
  • space!

The Magnificent Seven Benefits

• Effective use of scarce resources (they fought like 700)
• Improved access, service to clients & patrons
• Eliminating redundancy of effort
• Producing a better result
• Energizing effect of new faces, perspectives
• Discovering the invisible
• Ensuring the exotic, making widespread the scarce

Seven Conditions for Success

• Propitious Circumstances
• Vision to do something important
• Committed individuals, leadership
• Supportive structures
• Appropriate participation
• Means of access and distribution
• Funding

On Becoming Magnificent

• Define adequately the project/program
• Get organized & secure the resources
• Sell the idea to your constituents (political process, many interests)
• Keep going/institutionalize good projects
• Assess what you've done - evaluation
• Be patient for the payoff
• SERVICE TO USERS-an offer they can’t refuse

Lots of Cooperative Possibilities

Sources of cooperation:

• within your own group or institution
• outside with other groups

Lots possible structures:

• formal/tight agreements
• informal/loose/voluntary agreements

Agreements can change:

• Loose can become tight; formal becomes informal
• Temporary can become ongoing
• Agreements may end when job is done

NERL (My Magnificent Experience)

• 18 academic research libraries with common objectives of access and cost-containment, favorable joint licensing terms and prices for electronic content, and possible joint deployment of e-materials.
• NERL offers a forum in which members share information about management and budgeting for electronic resources. NERL Designated Representatives establish policies and procedures, as well as select and contract for electronic sources.
• Work is done on a volunteer basis by members.
• The Yale University Library provides an organizational home and support for NERL.

ICOLC (Another Magnificent Experience)

• A consortium of cooperating groups!
• http://www.library.yale.edu/consortia
• Partnership, association, cooperation, coordination, collaboration
• Discussion group 1995, 1996
• First meeting 2/97; fifth 3/99 (Arizona!)
• Currently 97 consortia worldwide

Six Maxims

• Cooperation takes time
• Cooperation requires human resources
• Cooperation requires financial investment
• Cooperation is not easy
• Cooperation is fun
• Cooperation brings results

Teamwork

 

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