Belk Library partners offer lessons learned about shared building partnerships

Bleakney, Olive-Taylor, Reimer, and Ruelle shared advice about bringing partners into the library space on a panel titled “We’re in This Together: Deep Collaboration with Library Building Partners” at the Librarians’ Association at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2019 Conference.

Clockwise, from top left: Julia Bleakney, Becky Olive-Taylor, Joan Ruelle and Kelly Reimer
Julia Bleakney, director of the Writing Center, Becky Olive-Taylor, executive director of the Koenigsberger Learning Center, Kelly Reimer, director of Teaching and Learning Technologies, and Joan Ruelle, dean of the Carol Grotnes Belk Library, described how libraries and their building partners can foster successful collaborative working models to focus on shared goals of student success while still leaving room for differentiation among services and departmental cultures.

Using Joan Lippincott’s deep collaboration model, the panel offered lessons learned about planning, logistics, and troubleshooting along with strategies to help staff build successful partnerships with new building colleagues.