Call for Chapters: Mergers, Alliances, Collaborations, and Partnerships (Advances in Librarianship, Volume 36)

Call for Chapters: Mergers, Alliances, Collaborations, and Partnerships (Advances in Librarianship, Volume 36)

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. On campuses, libraries are partnering with other internal units such as writing centers and externally with agencies such as research laboratories. North America has experienced increasing numbers of public library and museum collaborations as well as public library and school media centers partnerships.

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 it 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.

Author guideline and further information on the Advances in Librarianship series can be found on the website at: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/products/books/series.htm?id=0065-830

Please submit chapter proposals by the beginning of April 2012 to the Editors awoodsworth@emeraldinsight.com and dpenniman@emeraldinsight.com. Questions and comments should be submitted via email to them.

Schedule of due dates:
Proposal outlines: April 1, 2012
First drafts: September 1, 2012
Revised drafts: December 1, 2012

Best regards,

Virginia Chapman
Commissioning Editor
Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Tel:+44 (0) 1274 785667
vchapman@emeraldinsight.com
http://www.emeraldinsight.com