Collaborating on Digital Projects

Despite the breakneck speed of change in the digital economy, which has thrown numerous worthy technologies and companies onto the "dustbin of history," one of the most important skills needed by new librarians in the digital age has not changed: the ability to work in collaboration with others. Most digital projects are done in teams, or even teams of teams, and require flexible, over-arching organizations along with self-directed components in order to succeed. Despite the emphasis on teamwork and team-building exercises in library school classes, short of actual workplace experience it can be difficult to effectively simulate collaboration within the digital projects setting. This chapter will highlight some of the methods that new digital librarians might employ to improve collaboration in their digital projects. It will address collaborative techniques that arise during the initial development of digitization projects and includes a discussion of the issues related to working with certain individuals, such as IT specialists, content providers, and consultants. Finally, a case study illustrating the types of digitization projects done by the author will help to round out the discussion on digital project collaboration.