Strategic Collaborations in Health Sciences Libraries : Best Practices for Success

Health sciences librarians need to optimize collaborating with others in their institutions and beyond. An understanding of what leads to successful collaborations is beneficial and empowering. By using case studies of varieties of collaborations, Strategic Collaborations in Health Sciences Libraries provides a framework and evidence about key factors to consider when thinking about building and sustaining successful collaborations. Readers of this book are encouraged to contact the chapter authors to obtain more details than those provided in the book. This connection between experts with collaboration experience and those seeking to understand successful collaborations is the key impact of this book.

• Focusing on the positive aspect of collaboration in health sciences libraries, this book encourages others to form collaborations mutually beneficial to the library and the collaboration partner.
• Through case studies, readers are exposed to new ideas and ways to enhance existing collaborations.
• By contacting individual authors and learning more about their experiences, readers share ideas and connect with a network of librarians with collaboration expertise.

Jean P. Shipman, MSLS, AHIP, FMLA, is vice president, Global Library Relations for Elsevier. Prior to that, she was the executive director, knowledge management and Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library; director of the MidContinental Region and National Training Office of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine; director for Information Transfer, Center of Medical Innovation; and adjunct faculty of the Department of Biomedical Informatics, School of Medicine, all at the University of Utah. She has also been employed by the John Hopkins University; the Greater Baltimore Medical Center; the University of Maryland, Baltimore; the University of Washington; and Virginia Commonwealth University. She served as president of the Medical Library Association from 2006 to 2007 and on the board of directors for the Society for Scholarly Publishing from 2013 to 2016. She was a member and co-chair of the Chicago Collaborative, a group of publishers, librarians and editors, who met to discuss issues regarding scholarly communications. She is the co-editor of two books: Information and Innovation: A Natural Combination for Health Sciences Libraries, and this book, Strategic Collaborations in Health Sciences Libraries. She has also authored many journal articles, book chapters and given numerous professional presentations.

Mary Joan (M.J.) Tooey, MLS, AHIP, FMLA, is associate vice president, academic affairs and executive director of the Health Sciences and Human Services Library at the University of Maryland where she has worked in various library positions since 1986. She is also the director of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine’s Southeastern Atlantic Regional Medical Library and the National DOCLINE Coordinating Office under a cooperative agreement with the National Library of Medicine at National Institutes of Health. She received her MLS from the University of Pittsburgh. Tooey served as president of the Medical Library Association (2005e06), is a distinguished member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals, and a fellow of the Association. In 2016, she was the Medical Library Association’s Janet Doe Lecturer. In 1997, she was named the Estelle Brodman Academic Medical Librarian of the Year. She has also served as president of the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (2012e13). She was the 2011 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Information Sciences. Tooey is the author or co-author of over 200 chapters, articles, presentations, or posters. Her professional interests include leadership, emerging trends, strategic planning and visioning, library innovation and design, ethics, and mentoring.