The Collaborative Project Management Model: Akkasah, an Arab Photography Project

Abstract

The New York University Abu Dhabi Library had a unique opportunity to partner with a standing faculty member to establish an Arab photo archive, the first of its kind in the region. Using the library’s global network of resources, Akkasah, the Center for Photography, launched in the library’s new Center for Digital Scholarship, and has since become the Center’s flagship project. This partnership is unique in its “interconnectedness,” and the ways in which the project is integrated within the library’s space, collection, and even its budget. Global in scope, the Akkasah archive relies on staff and services at NYU Libraries in New York, in addition to local resources in Abu Dhabi. This collaboration has been so successful that we often refer to the “Akkasah model” when discussing future faculty/library partnerships. This partnership enabled the library to expand this model into a replicable framework for work with faculty that at once engages major research themes at the University with emerging media for publication and establishes library protocols designed for long-term access. It avoids the building of problematic stovepipes, while facilitating innovative communication in the humanities. This chapter will explore how the Akkasah partnership was built, values shared across faculty, library, university, and community participants, and the characteristics that enable extension of the model into further work in the humanities.