Collaborating with Faculty to Enhance an Academic Research Library's User Education Program

Though collaboration has always had an important role to play in academe's world of scholarship, teaching, and service, much more than usual has been written on this subject in recent years. This literature generally attests to the fact that collaboration plays a much greater role than formerly in accomplishing the diverse activities associated with the academic world. There are undoubtedly many reasons for the increasing emphasis on professional collaboration. Certainly, one of the most influential recent publications that have encouraged this trend is William Deming's The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education. Steven Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is another. Covey's habit of synergy, which emphasizes the importance of creative cooperation, has influenced professionals across the country, encouraging them to collaborate with colleagues in the course of their professional lives. Following the trend, professionals at academic research libraries have wholeheartedly embraced the idea of collaboration. This is especially the case for librarians responsible for user education programs. This article examines the extent to which members of the Texas Tech University Libraries' user education unit have collaborated with Texas Tech faculty in order to enhance the instruction offered library users. It focuses on user education through Web-based instruction and in an indirect manner on the increasingly important role played by new technologies generally and distance learning.