How to Cite
Abstract
The educational benefits of collaboration between school librarians and the broader school community is supported by a multitude of research, as are the benefits of collaboration in education in general. A 2015 report, The Shared Work of Learning: Lifting Educational Achievement through Collaboration (Mitchell Institute) found that "collaboration – the sharing of effort, knowledge and resources in the pursuit of shared goals – plays a central and partially hidden role in the achievement of student learning outcomes".
It’s not a new concept but it definitely is a prevalent one. In the 2017 Softlink School Library Survey we framed a specific question around the topic. Respondents were asked ‘How do you currently collaborate, or what ideas do you have for greater collaboration between the library and the rest of the school?’. The breadth and ingenuity of the responses was truly inspiring and are included in the feature document, School Libraries Share: Ideas for school-wide collaboration. School library professionals have found themselves responding to change, driven by fast-paced technology environments. Even more challenging, they have had to navigate their way through these changes with limited resources, and limited understanding of the growing need for their specialist information literacy skills, amongst others.