Better together: building a new support site for bachelor's students in nursing

Abstract

This study consists of two separate, but overlapping cases. As a consequence of a merger of four different higher education institutions in Norway, the [University name] got several nursing study programmes in different campuses. To get a more formal collaboration started, three university libraries decided to start a joint project. Case one was to build a product or service specifically designed for nursing students. Case two was to form a community of practice between librarians at the three libraries supporting these study programmes. Findings show that collaboration between different campus libraries is not always easy, even with online collaboration tools, but that a community of practice can be rewarding and an efficient way to collaborate. E-learning has been a way to serve both off-campus and campus students alike, and findings also show that building a product specifically designed for one user group can be exiting and worth the effort. The many mergers in higher education means that many librarians in Norway has become a part of much bigger units, and finding common ground, good collaboration methods and joint services to user groups are important issues.