Choose your own collaboration: An adventure in academic space and time

Collaboration within the educational sector, just as any collaboration, can be chaotic, random and unpredictable. But it is that unpredictability which makes it rich, because it is a matter of not just extending your own expertise, skills and abilities, but of also exceeding them through the combinations of your skills and opportunities with others. While hoped for, this is difficult to plan, and it is rarely a straight-forward linear process.

This article aims to allow readers to reflect on the potential chaos and unpredictable nature of the collaborative process by taking on the role of a university librarian in a choose-your-own-adventure style piece. This means that you (as reader) are presented with a number of choices and paths, and it is up to you to decide which route to take. Note that some options are randomised (e.g. flip a coin or throw a dice) to represent the importance of chance in any real life situation and reflect the nature of the collaborative process. But in contrast to real life, you can start again to change your fate.