Before entering the program, I had not really thought about a career in Library & Information Science as a field that relied heavily on communication and collaboration. I have since learned the opposite is quite true in my short time in the program. Collaboration is the key to success for an MLIS career. Upon researching film archivists for my information community in INFO 200, it seems that most of the problems arose when there was a lack of communication among peers. As Dalen et al. (2021) pointed out, many information professionals keep their information and knowledge to themselves without communicating to others, and this information can become lost if not passed down and shared. Having regular meetings to collaborate and share information must be a priority and a great way to ensure information is properly shared among peers. This is especially important for those who have been in the field for years to share information with newcomers to help bridge the generation gap. A lack of communication can also lead to poor documentation. As Hertzum (2003) stated, many archives and institutions have their own standards and rules for documentation. Especially in regard to film archives, the lack of standards make retrieval complicated across the industry and difficult for users to find materials. This shows that communication is not only crucial from within an organization but a necessity for collaboration among organizations on a global scale.
With virtual meetings being the center of collaboration today, and a budget friendly option, there is no longer any excuse for institutions not to meet and exchange ideas with each other. Bergiel et al (2006) use collaboration as one of the main factors of successful virtual teams alongside trust, leadership, and technology. With virtual teams; however, comes struggle which includes language barriers, time zone differences, and what Bergiel et al (2006) term human resource development which describes how virtual teams are different from in-person meetings. Human resource development provides training in the “technological, personal and inter-personal skills for virtual communication” (Bergiel et al., 2006). If people can become more skilled and trained for virtual meetings, it can continue to be one of the best ways to collaborate and share information.
References
Bergiel, B. J., Bergiel, E. B., & Balsmeier, P. W. (2008). Nature of virtual teams: A summary of their advantages and disadvantages. Management Research News, 31(2), 99-110. http://doi.org/10.1108/01409170810846821
Dalen, J., V., Šičarov, N., Aparicio, T., & Gracy, K. F. (2021). How-to: Sharing knowledge among generations of archivists. Journal of Film Preservation, (105), 13–22. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2618812287?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true
Hertzum, M. (2003). Requests for information from a film archive: A case study of multimedia retrieval. Journal of Documentation, 59(2), 168–186. https://doi.org/10.1108/00220410310463473