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Librarian-academic collaboration: the role of strategic communication and relationship management

Marlene Wiggil
North-West University
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Librarian-academic collaboration: the role of strategic communication and relationship management. (2022). Communicare: Journal for Communication Studies in Africa, 30(2), 51-67. https://doi.org/10.36615/jcsa.v30i2.1663
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  • Submited: October 16, 2022
  • Published: October 17, 2022

Abstract

Information literacy and critical thinking skills are essential in the information age towards
achieving academic success and being adequately skilled for lifelong learning. Academic
libraries have an indispensable role to play in this regard. Collaboration between librarians and
academics is important to ensure both effective information-literacy training and service provision
to students and to the academic community. However, a lack of understanding, knowledge, and
communication regarding academic libraries’ teaching and research role is proving to be an
obstacle in obtaining librarian-academic collaboration. Academic libraries do mostly not apply
strategic communication management to build and maintain relationships with its stakeholders,
which contributes to the challenges surrounding librarian-academic collaboration. This paper
reports on how four academic libraries practise communication and relationship management
to enhance librarian-academic collaboration. The study aims to make recommendations for the
application of more effective, strategy-driven communication and relationship management to
enhance librarian-academic collaboration.

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How to Cite
Librarian-academic collaboration: the role of strategic communication and relationship management. (2022). Communicare: Journal for Communication Studies in Africa, 30(2), 51-67. https://doi.org/10.36615/jcsa.v30i2.1663

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