A publication of the Association of College and Research Libraries
A division of the American Library Association
Editorial Offices: 575 Main Street, Suite 300, Middletown, CT 06457-3445
Phone: (860) 347-6933
Fax: (860) 704-0465

FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY

Please do not link to this page.

April 2017 Vol. 54 No. 8

Gardner has written a practical, research-grounded book on collaboration; the introductory chapter is titled "Why Collaborate." She provides "hard evidence for collaboration," including the need to overcome the increasing specialization of professionals and grapple with increasingly complex client problems involving multiple diverse constituencies, often over many parts of the globe. Her analyses show that effective collaboration increases profits and client loyalty. The first step in bringing about collaboration is measuring it and finding out who does it well. The second is adjusting compensation to support collaboration. Third is using technology to accelerate collaboration. An interesting chapter is on how sharing and collaboration leads to significant success that remaining a solo specialist does not. One strong point of the book is the provision of practical steps for managing such things as team reactions to performance pressure. Ultimately, the book meanders through many justifications of smart collaboration rather than offering a preponderance of useful approaches and procedures. Adjusting organizational cultures to support cross-boundary collaborations is an alternative approach offered by Roger Hayes and Reginald Watts in Reframing the Leadership Landscape: Creating a Culture of Collaboration (Routledge, 2015).

--C. Wankel, St. John's University, New York

Summing Up: Optional. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.