Out of the Box

Out of the Box – innovative partnerships in the library works with collaboration-driven innovation and partnerships and how they can develop the library. The project, which ends mid-2012, develops tools that the libraries can use to professionalise external collaboration.

The project gathers knowledge and experience regarding partnerships. The material is then processed and developed to fit the libraries. The tools build on national as well as international experiences and literature and on knowledge from practice as well as research. Contributions were made by: library employees, -managers, -strategists, current and potential partners and partnership strategists from other sectors.

In the guide Build Partnerships, developed in the project, a number of issues which the individual library must address in order to obtain a great profit by the external collaboration. It is all about organising and procedures in the library and the motivation and competences of managers and employees. Also, it is important to be able to think in a relational and strategic manner.

At our website, you can find good examples of partnerships and a tool box containing various useful tools and overviews.

The project is carried out by Citizens’ Services and Libraries, Roskilde Libraries, Roskilde University, The Royal School of Library and Information Science and The Dacapo Theatre.

The project is subsidised by the Danish Agency for Culture. The website www.udafboksen.nu is currently in Danish only.