My best friend is Vice President of the HSBC (a large international bank). I would bet a hundred dollars that if Chase or Wells Fargo were working through a process, figuring out best practices and workflows, etc., she could not, would not, would never dream of, calling her counterpart and say, "We're just getting started with this new program and we wondered if you could share your insight with us?"
This is exactly what I did two months ago as we are beginning to prepare for the Google Book Project. I emailed Martha Sites at the University of Virginia and asked if we could visit them. We got here yesterday and will leave later today and it's been a great experience. The faculty and staff here have been terribly helpful. We've learned so many things that we will be able to use in our project at Penn State. I think all of us who came have been impressed by the care they take in this project. So, thanks to all of the Virginia folks who have taken the time out of their schedules to meet with us and teach us what they've learned. Someday, we'll pay it forward.