Library Partnerships in International Liberal Arts Education: Building Relationships Across Cultural and Institutional Lines—eEditions PDF e-book

Internationalization continues to gain traction among US colleges and universities as overseas branch campuses now dot the globe alongside an established and growing group of independent American-modeled institutions of higher education, some founded as early as the 19th century. As higher education and the academic library environment evolves, librarians at many of these independent institutions are identifying priorities that include not only collaborating with educational stakeholders, enhancing teaching and learning, and connecting to the institution’s mission, but also positioning themselves as active and creative partners in increasingly digital learning and scholarship. An international environment is both a challenge and an opportunity for these priorities.

Library Partnerships in International Liberal Arts Education explores these challenges and opportunities through perspectives that are inherently international and intercultural because of the authors’ own backgrounds, and in particular because of their institutional environments. The authors are librarians, faculty, and technologists at institutions that belong to the AMICAL Consortium, a consortium of American-modeled international liberal arts institutions working together on common goals for libraries, technology, and learning. The chapters describe library-anchored collaborations that demonstrate struggles, but also successes and rich possibilities, in these thoroughly international—and increasingly digital—liberal arts institutions. They provide cumulative knowledge, reference points, and aspirational targets for planning future library-related collaborations in similar environments.

While a fascinating look at new collaborative roles and digitally focused priority areas for academic librarians as they are being addressed within AMICAL’s membership, the compelling ideas arising from these intercultural contexts have broad application and introduce opportunities to engage in international collaboration with the members of this unique consortium.