When students use AskAway, they see a simple chat box. From their library's website, they type in a research question and within moments, a friendly library staff member is typing back, helping them find the information they need.
What students don't see behind the conversation is the collaborative network of over 300 library workers across 28 institutions staffing AskAway. Library staff from participating post-secondary institutions work together to provide seamless research support, regardless of which institution's website a question comes from.
This spirit of collaboration is one of the reasons AskAway has been featured as a case study [1] in a new toolkit designed to support collaborative initiatives across B.C.'s post-secondary sector.
Developed through the Shared Educational Resources and Technology (SERT) Initiative, the Enabling Collaborative Initiatives toolkit [2] explores the tools, practices, and considerations that can help organizations develop and sustain cross-institutional curriculum, educational technology, and shared services throughout the B.C. post-secondary system.
For 20 years, post-secondary libraries have collaboratively invested in AskAway as an affordable, robust service that supplements in-person services. In its time AskAway has:
The AskAway case study highlights several factors that have enabled the service to remain stable, responsive, and widely supported over two decades:
At the heart of AskAway’s resilience is the fact that responsibility for its development is shared. The service is not provided to institutions by an external vendor; rather, it is built and operated by the participating libraries themselves.
AskAway distributes both labour and responsibility across the entire network. This shared model means no single institution carries the service alone. This structure also strengthens commitment. Because participating institutions all contribute staff time, funding, and decision-making capacity, they have a direct interest in the service’s success.
AskAway’s governance model is both structured and participatory, which helps sustain the service over time. Oversight is provided by the BC ELN Steering Committee, while day-to-day guidance and strategic direction come from the AskAway Advisory Committee, a standing committee comprised of representatives from participating institutions.
This representational model ensures decisions reflect a wide range of institutional contexts, including differences in size, geography, and mandate. It also creates a formal pathway for feedback between frontline staff, local coordinators, and system-level decision-makers.
A defining feature of AskAway’s longevity is its ability to adapt without destabilizing the core service. Tiered contribution models and flexible service support options allow libraries to balance funding and staffing based on local capacity. This adaptability proved especially important during periods of financial constraint and shifting demand, including post-COVID service increases.
Flexibility also extends to service design. Changes such as proactive chat, adjustments to staffing models, and evolving service hours have been introduced incrementally, often through pilots and consultation. This approach enables innovation while reducing risk, ensuring that change strengthens rather than disrupts the system.
While AskAway is collectively governed, its coordination is supported by a central administrative body that helps ensure the service functions smoothly at scale. The AskAway Administrative Centre, operated by BC Electronic Library Network, plays this role as steward of the service.
The Administrative Centre provides continuity, coordination, and operational expertise that would be challenging for any single institution to take on independently. It manages essential functions such as scheduling, training, software administration, communications, and financial coordination, while also maintaining institutional memory of the service’s evolution.
Importantly, this stewardship role complements rather than replaces shared ownership. By reducing administrative burden on participating libraries and maintaining a system-level perspective, the Administrative Centre helps ensure that collaboration remains practical, coordinated, and sustainable over time.
AskAway works because it is built on a set of practices that reinforce each other over time. Shared ownership, representational governance, flexible participation, and a coordinated administrative structure all play a part in keeping the service steady while still allowing it to evolve. Together, 28 institutions are able to deliver something that feels seamless on the user side, even though it’s highly collaborative behind the scenes.
As post-secondary libraries continue to navigate changing budgets, technologies, and user expectations, AskAway offers a grounded example of what long-term collaboration can look like in practice.
If you’re interested in how these kinds of partnerships are designed and sustained, take a look at the Enabling Collaborative Initiatives toolkit [2] developed through the Shared Educational Resources and Technology (SERT) Initiative. It pulls together practical guidance and real considerations for building and maintaining shared services across the B.C. post-secondary system.
And for a closer look at AskAway, the AskAway case study [1] goes into more detail on how the service has evolved over the past 20 years… and what keeps it going today.
Photo by Armin Rimoldi on Pexels [3].