In today’s higher education environment, academic libraries no longer can afford to remain isolated institutions of learning and information literacy. If they are to succeed in their mission to provide current and relevant information literacy skills to students, faculty, and staff, they must partner with other libraries and professional organizations. But this prospect raises many questions. How should the library go about forming partnerships? How do new technologies play a role in these collaborations? And, perhaps most importantly, how do libraries manage change?

Maxine Melling and Margaret Weaver, academic library managers in the United Kingdom, have edited a very useful and timely book on this important topic, Collaboration in Libraries and Learning Environments. In succeeding chapters, written by British, Canadian, and Australian academic librarians, this brief but information-filled book will answer and guide librarians’ questions and concerns regarding effective and innovative library collaborations, as well as successful technological and change management strategies to provide effective and efficient transitions to these programs. Each chapter contains useful illustrations and graphs, as well as extensive reference lists for additional information beyond each chapter. The topics include joint-use libraries, change management, collaborative library leadership, and joint information literacy programs to attract student interest.

For readers in the United States, the only potential drawback to this well-written and well-organized book is its Commonwealth focus: The chapters highlight British, Canadian, and Australian library collaborations, with no contributions from U.S. librarians. Nevertheless, Collaboration in Libraries and Learning Environments will provide academic librarians of all nationalities with tools and techniques for successful partnerships with other institutions of learning to serve their users with well-planned, diverse, and current information literacy programs. Highly recommended.