The Art of Collaboration

Collaboration, as a word, is used to describe a wide range of activities, from individuals working together to major ventures involving many organisations and even cross-border alliances. Yet, it is not really clear what constitutes collaboration when it comes to organisations and there are many examples of failed collaborations, such as the Ohio Arts Alley (Rhoades 2014, p. 101). Despite this, cultural organisations are faced with increasing demands to collaborate: from government, funding bodies and participants. These demands arise because successful collaborations deliver through by reducing costs and maximising resource utilisation. So how can we ensure that any collaboration we take part in succeeds? Drawing upon a systematic review of library collaboration, this paper defines organisational collaboration and identifies the characteristics of successful collaborations and the challenges faced when organisations collaborate. It describes how other cultural organisations, such as art schools, might learn from the collaborative experience of libraries from Australia and overseas.