Intervening conditions inside and outside libraries in order to build collaboration between teaching faculty and librarians in education: Based on a case study of Earlham college

Abstract

A recent massive higher educational reform has asked college and university libraries to review their services inclusive of these reforms. A constructive relationship between teaching faculty and librarians was recognised as contributing to the success of information literacy initiative and information literacy instruction. The purpose of this paper is to explore the research question, “what are the intervening conditions in library, institutional and social contexts which promote collaboration between teaching faculty and librarians,” based on a case study of Earlham College. The data, such as a literature review, archival records, interview data and observational data, were collected and analysed through a grounded theory approach. The results show that “leadership of library directors,” “librarians as instructors” and “librarians’ faculty status” are important factors in the library context. “Small community,” “flat hierarchy” and “teaching faculty as educators” were discovered as the important themes in the college context.