CFP: Mergers, Alliances, Collaborations, and Partnerships (Advances in Librarianship)
Dear Colleagues,
Dave Penniman and I, co-editors of Advances in Librarianship, and
would like to receive chapter proposals for volume 36, to be published in 2013
on the theme of Mergers, Alliances, Collaborations, and Partnerships.
While corporate mergers make headlines, similar efforts in library and
information science are less vociferously touted. They are occurring, however,
amongst libraries, degree programs, and enterprises such as networks and
consortia. Public libraries partner with community groups in order to
strengthen the political clout of both. They are occurring as governments mandate
consolidation of operations amongst agencies under their purview in order to
reduce or curtail expenditures. Academic libraries are partnering with other
internal units such as writing centers and externally with agencies such as
research laboratories. They are also collaborating with peer institutions to
develop resources in developing collections instead of competing and
duplicating materials in their collections. North America has experienced
increasing numbers of public library and museum collaborations as well as
public library and school media centers partnerships. Regional networks have
consolidated operations and become larger entities. This volume of Advances in
Librarianship seeks to provide a comprehensive review of the factors that lead
to mergers and other alliances, the methods used to ensure effective and
successful collaborations, and descriptions of the factors which contributed to
less successful efforts at consolidation. Original research, case studies,
literature reviews and conceptual papers are sought as chapters for this
volume.
Topics of interest for proposed chapters can include, but are not
limited to, the following:
• Structural and operational mergers such as technical services and
collection management in two or more library and information science
environments;
• The impact and benefits of expanding electronic tools such as social
networks, and shared digital spaces such as Dropbox and Google Docs on blended
or joint initiatives;
• Experiences in higher education with combining programs and other
educational experiences for students and faculty across disciplines and
spanning two or more institutions;
• The fiscal results of mergers and multi-institutional operations
amongst groups of libraries of all kinds;
• Policy, work reallocation and structural changes within merging
operations;
• Research about corporate experiences and the lessons or guidance they
can provide for the not for profit sector;
• Changes in workflow and organizational structures and other behavioral
issues arising in merged organizations;
• The lessons, successes and failures in creating teams across
previously separate organizations;
• Human resource implications and impact on unions in settings that have
joint or merged services and operations;
• Studies of the factors that stimulated formation of merged entities,
alliances amongst diverse groups/entities.
Proposals can be in the form of an abstract or an outline.
Please submit chapter proposals to the Editors at awoodsworth@emeraldinsight.com or alwoods10@gmail.com and dpenniman@emeraldinsight.com
Questions and comments should be submitted via e-mail to us.
Many thanks,
Anne Woodswoth, Co- Editor 
