Collaboration in Editorship

This chapter presents a year-long collaboration by two editors, one in Italy and one in Canada, that resulted in 2011 the IFLA Publication No. 148, titled Global Perspectives on School Libraries: Projects and Practices. Supporting the work of the two editors were the members of the Joint Committee of two international school library groups, the School Libraries and Resource Centers Section of the International Association of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA SLRC) and the International Association of School Librarianship (IASL), and the staffs of IFLA Headquarters and of IFLA’s publisher, De Gruyter Saur. The 300-page book included 30 chapters, written by 50 authors from 20 countries across 6 continents. The topics addressed in the book included: school library education and implementation models; promoting literacies through the school library; school libraries for all; expanding the reach of the school library through technology; government initiatives for school library development; and organizations for school library advocacy and development. The whole process—from designing the publication to disseminating it—is described, including some lessons learned along the way, useful for planning joint work of a similar nature. Future steps in the collaboration between the IFLA SLRC Section and IASL collaboration are introduced as well.