“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity” 1 – using a case study to identify Critical Success Factors contributing to the initiation of international collaborative projects

Abstract

This paper identifies factors that contribute to the successful initiation of international collaborative projects intended to support the development of education for librarianship and information sciences. It discusses the widespread failure to analyse the Critical Success Factors in international collaborative projects and proposes a case study methodology to identify these factors through an analysis of the decision by the European Commission's ALFA Programme to support REVISTAS, a study of the feasibility of digitising all Spanish and Portuguese journals in librarianship and information sciences, particularly those published in Latin America. To contextualise the proposal, it discusses the development of the ‘Information Society’ in Latin America, and the key role attributed to libraries and librarians. It then examines problems in the development of education and practice in librarianship and information sciences in the region, and in journal publishing for the profession, the availability of indexing and abstracting services, and the utility of document delivery services. It presents an outline of the author's initial research into the underlying challenges, and outlines the development of the international partnership that will deliver the planned outcomes of the REVISTAS project. Finally, it analyses the issues that have contributed to the establishment of this cooperative effort, and the limitations of this study.