What Makes a Joint Use Library a Community Library?

McNicol, Sarah

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/3652 Copy

Description

Title

What Makes a Joint Use Library a Community Library?

Author(s)

McNicol, Sarah

Issue Date

2006

Keyword(s)

• Joint use libraries
• Library cooperation
• Libraries and community

Abstract

Although the majority of joint use libraries in educational establishments provide at least an adequate level of service for their school, college, or university users, the standard of service they provide for members of the public is more questionable in many cases. This article considers the benefits and problems of joint use libraries from the perspective of their public users, providing examples from the UK and elsewhere to demonstrate how these occur in practice. A number of success factors are identifi ed that need to be considered if a joint use library is to be successful as a community library, perhaps the most important of these being the need to involve the local community in the development of the library from its earliest stage. Gaining the support and active involvement of the local community is crucial; only then can the true benefits of joint use libraries, as locations for intergenerational activity and lifelong learning, be realized.

Publisher

Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

ISSN

0024-2594

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/3652

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2006 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

Owning Collections