Manning the boat with a diverse (non-traditional) crew

Due to a lack of increase in departmental funding, the Pennington Biomedical Research Center departments of Computing Services and Library Services are continually looking for ways to increase efficiency and productivity without the increase of personnel and resources. A continual need for office space in the research facility was at a critical point in the year 2000. Computing Services and Library Services worked together to develop an arrangement that was beneficial to both departments: the move of the Computer Lab and Training Area to the Library Services public access area, and a change in the way technical support was offered to the community of PBRC computer users.This collaborative project was just the beginning of a long-lasting relationship between the two departments, and has provided users with exceptional if non-traditional services from the Library and Computing Services departments. With the success of this first merger, these two departments have proceeded to undertake many other collaborative projects. Some of these projects have been completed while others are in the planning / development stages. The list of projects, past and present include:Both areas continue to act as independent departments while finding that they are still very dependent on the other; the interactions of the two departments continue and the relationship thrives. This paper will take you through the steps that were used during the first collaborative effort between the two departments to merge the resources of the Computing Learn Lab and Training Area with the existing Library Services public access area. The paper will also discuss each of the other collaborative projects during the discovery, planning, and implementation phases.