Information transfer and transformation has enriched and enhanced teaching and research in the field of teacher– librarianship in Australia and Canada. Influence has flowed in both directions between Australia and Canada. Transferred ideas were transformed through practice in the new setting, and these new understandings became the catalyst for new practice and further transformation. Transfer and transformation of ideas in teacher–librarianship has occurred in theory and practice, in delivery of education for teacher–librarians, and in research into the role of the principal in information literate school communities. The collaborations between Australians and Canadians in teacher–librarianship have resulted in long term complex relationships that have been maintained over great distances and over a long time. Based on their own experiences of these relationships, the authors argue that these relationships are sustained in three ways: by short but intensive engagement in each other's lives; by mutual involvement in international association work; and by the making and carrying out of informal agreements and commitments.