This time of accentuated interdependence and acute awareness of a historical moment calls on galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAMs) to respond together and to lead forward. Memory institutions are unique trusted stewards of time. When humanity experiences a global event such as the current pandemic, our institutions are grounded in the moment, and in their role throughout history told and yet to come. The new issue of Research Library Issues offers three articles that reflect on the value of GLAM collaborations as well as the voices of institutional leaders looking at the opportunities for even greater collaboration as we work through history in the making.
Eerily familiar today, the article by Guy Berthiaume, Librarian and Archivist of Canada Emeritus, looks back at a time of economic uncertainty when GLAM collaboration was essential to creating a new narrative for GLAM institutions, and to quantifying their economic contribution to society.
The article by Jill Deupi, Chuck Eckman, and Christina Larson of the University of Miami highlights what is achievable through library-museum collaborations on paper conservation, information discovery, exhibitions that transcend object sharing, and digital initiatives.
The final article reflects conversations with Mark Sweeney and Jacob Nadal of the Library of Congress, Kurt Graham of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, and Trevor Dawes of the University of Delaware Libraries and Museums on GLAM collaborations under COVID-19 conditions and what that might mean for the future.
The table of contents with links to the articles follows:
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Introduction
Mary Lee Kennedy -
If You Want to Go Far, Go Together: The Collaboration among the GLAM Community in Canada (2016–2019)
Guy Berthiaume -
C-R-E-A-T-E: Building an Institutional Cultural Resources Platform
Jill Deupi, Charles Eckman, and Christina Larson -
GLAM Collaborations under COVID-19 Conditions and Beyond
Mary Lee Kennedy
Research Library Issues no. 300 (2020) is freely available from ARL Digital Publications.
About the Association of Research Libraries
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 124 research libraries in Canada and the US whose mission is to advance research, learning, and scholarly communication. The Association fosters the open exchange of ideas and expertise, promotes equity and diversity, and pursues advocacy and public policy efforts that reflect the values of the library, scholarly, and higher education communities. ARL forges partnerships and catalyzes the collective efforts of research libraries to enable knowledge creation and to achieve enduring and barrier-free access to information. ARL is on the web at ARL.org.
