Shared resources: collaboration between schools doesn’t cost independence with Oliver v5

Originally published in SLANZA Collected Magazine.

Every school is looking for ways to improve academic outcomes and operational efficiencies. For some, co-location, multi-campus or education campus models are an effective solution that benefits the entire community.

For the school libraries involved in these alliances, the discussion is often focussed on what level of resource sharing is beneficial and how to make it work effectively.

The ideal vision for such collaborations may centre around the development of a library experience where the physical separation of the different library collections dissolves and it is simple to browse and borrow resources from the catalogues of other school libraries in the alliance.

Critically, each school library needs to retain independent control over their own resources and processes.

The success of such collaborations hinge on strong communication and a technology framework that provides the right balance of structure and flexibility.

Both elements are closely linked and can be impacted by the other – strong communication helps schools define the vision, collaborate on the choice and configuration of technology, and continue to maintain a positive and productive working relationship for many years.

In Blenheim, New Zealand, Marlborough Girls’ College is involved in one such successful collaboration with nearby Marlborough Boys’ College.

The decision to enter into a co-location arrangement stemmed from extensive liquefaction and earthquake damage at the two campuses. Co-location to a new site in 2021 will allow the colleges to remain independent while benefitting from the ability to share resources.

Students are already moving between the two schools and the library has proven to be an ideal starting point for collaboration.

Marlborough Girls’ College (NZ) Library Manager, Colleen Shipley said that one of the reasons Softlink’s Oliver v5 was selected as the new library management system was because of its multi-branch capability.

By using Oliver v5’s multi-branch management tools, the two schools have been able to create an environment that supports four collections - Girls’ library and textbook resources and Boys’ library and textbook resources. Staff and students can easily search Oliver v5 and, in a single view, find resources from all four collections.

“Upgrading from Alice to Oliver v5 was like moving from a Mini to a Ferrari. It was something we had wanted to do for a long time as we could see the advantages for staff and students. The joining of our library management systems with the Boys’ College has set us up for the future.”

Colleen said that the Softlink’s support during the deployment of Oliver v5 was instrumental in ensuring a successful collaboration between the two libraries.

“The upgrade to Oliver v5 was tricky as it was a collaboration, but Softlink were experienced in dealing with this and helped us out.”

To find out more about the implementation of Oliver v5 at Marlborough Girls’ College please view the full case study.