ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries C& RL N ew s ■ Ja n u a ry 2001 / 9 COMMUNITY & COLLABORATION “Only connect”1 The collocation of the University of Washington, Bothell and Cascadia Community College by Cynthia Fugate While Forster may have h ad som ething more spiritual in mind, the w ords “only connect” serve as excellent practical advice to those of us engaged in collaborative, cross- institutional partnerships. The n eed for posi­ tive, continual connection to our partners, in­ cluding the occasional frank exchange of o p ­ posing views, is w h at m akes collaborations so challenging and interesting. The recently launched collocation of the University of Washington, Bothell (UWB), and Cascadia Community College has given those of us in the cam pus library am ple o p p o rtu ­ nity to put connection into practice— estab­ lishing links with the new ly created com m u­ nity college, strengthening links w ith o u r partner of ten years, UWB, and m aintaining our institutional and collegial links w ith the UWB Libraries. The background UWB opened its doors in 1990 as o n e of five legislatively m andated branch cam puses in the state. Charged to serve the need s o f time- bound, place-bound students, UWB has from the beginning b een an innovative, student- centered institution w here collaboration b e ­ tween faculty and librarians is ex p ected an d supported. As part o f the UWB Libraries, the campus library has h a d th e b est o f b o th w orlds—access to a w orld-class library and its expertise, and a scale w hich allows for experim entation an d rapid change. Defining an d redefining our partnerships w ith UWB an d w ith the UWB Libraries has b e e n an ex­ citing challenge over the last ten years, one w hich prom ises to becom e even m ore inter­ esting as w e ad d Cascadia to the mix. Collocation— the decision In 1994 the W ashington State Legislature d e­ cided that the state’s n ew est com m unity col­ lege, Cascadia, an d the UWB should b e lo­ cated o n the sam e piece of land and should, to the extent possible, share services. Natu­ rally, sh ared library services h a d an appeal that could n o t b e denied—just o n e building to build, n o duplication of staff, shared col­ lections; the list is endless. We w ere fortunate that o u r task involved not so m uch th e m erging o f tw o existing sys­ tem s as th e grafting o f a n e w twig onto an existing plant. Since Cascadia had no students, an d very few staff, until fall 2000, an d UWB had b een grow ing steadily for ten years in its tem porary quarters, w e w ere able to avoid m any o f the problem s that arise w hen exist­ ing systems try to merge. H aving said that, comm unity colleges an d universities have dif­ ferent m issions an d different ex pectations About the a u th o r I Cynthia Fugate is director o f the University o f Washington, Bothell Library, e-mail: cfugate@bothell.washington.edu mailto:cfugate@bothell.washington.edu 1 0 / C&RL News ■ January 2001 about library services, and attending to that issue was foremost in the minds o f those who began to plan this partnership. M aking it happen Planning and implementing the shared library service and the new library building involved staff at all levels, from the UWB Libraries, the campus library, and from community colleges in the region. W e were particularly fortunate to have the advice o f a number o f community college librarians in planning our new library and its services. Their contributions helped us create a library that serves both community college and university students and fac­ ulty equally well. One tactic that emerged from those discussions and has worked particularly well in creating bridges rather than boundaries, is to assign librar­ ians liaison responsibilities across institutions, so that, for example, the science librar­ ian serves the faculty and stu­ dents o f Cascadia and UWB. Believing that the b est way to becom e part o f a com­ munity is to help to create it, librarians participated fully in the curriculum planning pro­ cess. They were invited to planning sessions that took place in the summer and helped teaching fac­ ulty integrate concepts o f information literacy into the curriculum. As a result, they have had a busy fall quarter in the library and in the classrooms working with Cascadia students on a variety o f projects. We hope to be able to build an information literacy curriculum for our community college students, which will articulate well with the curriculum in place at UW, thus building yet another bridge between the two institutions. Naturally, in such a situation, one cannot rely on goodwill alone, and the rules o f the road for shared library and media services are spelled out in a subagreement to the “Cascadia Community College and University o f Wash­ ington, Bothell, Operation and Management Foundation Agreement.” Services are provided to Cascadia on a proportional basis calculated on the number o f full-time equivalent students, Photo credit: Marc Studer An e x te rio r shot o f th e reading r o o m a t t h e U n iv e r s ity o f W ashington, Bothell. and the costs are recalculated as the institu­ tions grow. Currently Cascadia has a little more than 800 FTE and UWB has approximately 1,200, so the split is 40/60. The subagreement took months o f good faith negotiation betw een Cascadia and University Libraries administra­ tors, as well as the aid o f legal counsel. The basic principle is one o f equity— attempting to provide equal services to Cascadia students in exchange for appropriate financial consid­ erations. Working out the actual cost o f pro­ viding library services on a per FTE basis was an enormous task which in­ volved the contributions o f many o f the libraries staff and the good faith and good will o f everyone involved in the negotiations. The agreement is scheduled to b e revised in the spring, and we will b e tak­ ing a close look at how equi­ ta b le an arran gem en t w e managed to achieve. The symbolic importance o f the campus library in col­ location is hard to miss— it is one o f few services shared equally by both institutions. It is also located centrally on the site. With Cascadia on one side and UW on the other, it reaches out to both commu­ nities and invites them to share a rich legacy o f scholarship, as well as the excitement o f creating new knowledge. We hope that the campus library will becom e not only a virtual intellectual commons for our two communities, but an actual one as well. We have a number o f events planned at the library that will highlight the work o f stu­ dents and faculty o f both institutions and fur­ ther encourage collaboration among our com ­ munity members. As w e look to strengthen and extend our relationships with all o f our partners, w e are confident that the good will and good faith engendered by our early struggles to com e to agreement will endure and see us through the struggles yet to come. Note 1. E. M. Forster, H o w a r d ’s E n d (N ew Yo Knopf, 1943). ■ rk: C&RL News ■ January 2001 / 11 A s s o c ia t io n o f R e s e a r c h L ib r a r ie s ARL publishes on issues of broad interest to the library, scholarly, and information communities. These publications report, compare, and suggest the best practices in such areas as library assessment, information delivery, resource preser­ vation, harnessing new technologies, and staff development. ARL data compilations—the most complete in the library field—include analysis of important trends. ARL: A Bimonthly Report on Research Library Issues and Action from ARL, CNI, and SPARC • ISSN 1050-6098 A new sletter on sch olarly co m m u n ication trends and issues SPEC K it • ISSN 016 0-3582 Surveys of cu rren t p ractices and policies, including su pporting docum entation ARL Statistics • ISSN 0147-2135 ARL Academic Law and M edical Library Statistics • ISSN 1088-1093 C ollection size and grow th, costs of serials and m on ograp h s, d ocum ent delivery, and exp en d itu re trends ARL Annual Salary Survey • ISSN 0361-5669 Staff salaries and d em ograp h ics A R L Preservation Statistics • ISSN 1050-7442 C onservation personnel, treatm en ts, and costs ARL Supplementary Statistics • ISSN pend in g Expen d itures on electronic resources Order from: ARL Publications Distribution Center P.O. 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