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Since 2008, the member libraries of National and State Libraries Australasia (NSLA) have been collaborating actively on a program of research, strategic planning, shared development and innovation. The target and the audience for the research are the member libraries, with outputs ranging from specific to these libraries' needs to those with broad interest and application across the cultural sector. This article describes the evolving strategic framework that drives the work of NSLA and looks at approaches and outcomes from selected digital maturity, heritage collections and community engagement projects. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As a strategy, collaboration is increasingly recognized by governments and by library partnerships as a critical component in achieving next generation change, particularly where it leads to trust in shared infrastructure, collections and expertise. Collaboration reduces the risks to the library industry. These risks stem from the capability of libraries to respond rapidly to changing technology and user needs, and to drive an increase in the digitization of collections and ensure the preservation of digital content. The ten National, State and Territory Libraries of Australia and New Zealand have committed to collaboration to accelerate change in their libraries and to new principles of open and easy access to information. The challenge is to bring these elements together as a transformed and implemented service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The online networked environment has already forced the reconfiguration of many industries, from music to banking to electioneering, and will continue to drive major shifts until few industries resemble their twentieth century model. Our libraries are now taking a system-wide view of the impact of this environment, looking to `unbundle' our activities and to assess the most effective way of tackling these challenges. The members of National & State Libraries Australasia (NSLA) are using collaboration to accelerate transformative change, and to move more rapidly than they could on their own. In 2008, NSLA endorsed the Re-imagining Libraries Strategic Plan and began to shift resources from individual library activity to collaborative activity. The projects in the Strategic Plan are underway and the picture of our re-imagined libraries is beginning to take shape. It will include both new services and new approaches to the body of work undertaken in our libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]