Nontraditional Partnerships in Pursuit of the “Information Infrastructure”

Abstract

The New York State Higher Education Initiative (NYSHEI) represents the public and private academic and research libraries of New York, and differs from other state-based academic library organizations in both its size and mission. NYSHEI holds about 150 member institutions, including all 87 of the state’s public colleges and universities, and nine ARL members. Founded in 2002, NYSHEI evolved into its current form in 2007 by adopting a focus on political advocacy. NYSHEI applies its diverse collection of collaborating libraries toward achieving a statewide “information infrastructure” that supports not just the academic enterprise, but all research, innovation, and entrepreneurialism in New York. An important lesson learned during the formative phase of NYSHEI is that collaboration as a strategic value can be fairly meaningless. Rightly understood, collaboration is a tactic that helps two or more parties attain separate but shared aims. As such, NYSHEI approaches information resources as a required utility for the modern era, and actively works with partners in the business community, state government, and health care fields to promote widespread access to information resources. 2002-2007: The Early Initiative New York State is home to the largest public university system in the nation, the State University of New York, known as SUNY and is also home to the nation’s largest urban public university system, the City University of New York or CUNY. These two large public systems operate quite separately. Both SUNY and CUNY are fairly modern inventions and were developed in a state that already had the largest collection of independent colleges and universities. The relationship between the “publics” and the “privates” is historically notorious for its animosity, distrust and, on occasion, its outright belligerence. Lamenting this climate, as so many others have, the former SUNY Provost and current Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute of Public Policy, Peter Salins conceived of NYSHEI. His idea, both grand and specific, was to cultivate collaboration among these three groups to the benefit of all. Rather than overreach on ambition, Salins began where the culture of collaboration was strongest – the libraries. Clarity in Collaboration The idea worked and NYSHEI was formed among the public and private academic and research libraries. At its founding NYSHEI had 125 members, including all 86 public schools. The membership ranged from 34 community colleges to nine ARL libraries that included both the New York State Library and the New York Public Library. It was a wide-ranging group brought together in the spirit of collaboration and under the leadership of a small group of visionary library directors. The collaborative spirit began to fade and by 2006 member institutions were beginning to leave NYSHEI. As a philosophy, collaboration in itself was not enough to stem the erosion of dues paying members. Though strikingly simple, it is a commonly overlooked reality that collaboration is a tactic that must be employed for specific goals. While NYSHEI was not without goals and projects during its formative phase, the group had Collaborative Librarianship 2(4):225-228 (2010) 225 Kramer: Nontraditional Partnerships in Pursuit of the “Information Infrastructure” failed to articulate and coalesce around powerful raison d’etre.