Joint-use Library Research Articles

The University Library as Bellwether: Examining the Public Role of Higher Education through Listening to the Library

This article engages the university library with live debates concerning the transformation of higher education. Focused within the British context, the article draws together previously distinct literatures from sociology, studies in higher education, and library and information studies to argue that the library represents an untapped lens through which to understand the university, its interface with civil society, and efforts to retain and reenergise its civic role. Beyond being solely diagnostic, the library is introduced as a bellwether—an institution that can also incubate trends towards privatisation and against publicness in higher education. Through exploration of an unusual joint-use public-academic library in Britain which combines academic and public collections, staff, and communities, the article’s analysis highlights both the opportunities that this “disruptive” shared space provides and the challenges posed by such an arrangement. Examples explored include the encroachment of private academic institutions in public spaces, the increasing asymmetry of fortunes between public and academic bodies, and the consequences of new library management technologies on the temporality and integrity of the library, and by consequence, the university.

Joint-use Libraries: Co-operation Between Public Libraries and School Libraries in Theory and Practice

Exploitation of school libraries by public libraries is strongly promoted by (local) politicians and decision makers. In the Netherlands this is influenced by a reform in the educational system in the 1990’s and the reconsideration of public libraries in the local area. The school library has become a marketing target. Public libraries and school libraries have varying roles. These roles are not similar but complimentary. Key factors for successful co-operation are the recognition of the role of the school library in the educational process and the competencies of the school librarian. As an example of a cooperation process, the establishment of a joint-use library in the brand new public library branch in the new district Ypenburg, will be described.

Compromise or supplement?—The case of Chinese joint-use libraries

This article considers joint-use libraries from several perspectives, including their reasons for existing, management structure, collection development, venue ownership and service. Three models—total integration, selective integration, and minimal integration—are used to analyze these characteristics, and three case studies from China are provided to illustrate how these forms of integration have played out. We find that China's situation is basically consistent with prior research results on joint-use libraries; one party in the joint-use partnership may be more vulnerable to total integration, but the “weakening” of one party's functions may also come about through a voluntary ceding of power. Selective integration and minimal integration, meanwhile, can also cause competition and conflict over resource control and ascription of responsibility, but it provides more opportunities for cooperation and more room for growth. This study complements existing knowledge of joint-use libraries with Chinese cases and provides a comparative analysis of the relationship among the practical effects of different joint-use library models.

Providing Health Sciences Services in a Joint-Use Distributed Learning Library System: An Organizational Case Study

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this organizational case study is to describe the complexities librarians face when serving a multi-campus institution that supports both a joint-use library and expanding health sciences academic partnerships. In a system without a centralized health science library administration, liaison librarians are identifying dispersed programs and user groups and collaborating to define their unique service and outreach needs within a larger land-grant university. Using a team-based approach, health sciences librarians are communicating to integrate research and teaching support, systems differences across dispersed campuses, and future needs of a new community-based medical program.

Chasing the White “WHALE”: A Case Study in Using iPads to Promote Active Learning

ABSTRACTIn order to encourage more active learning in the library classroom, the college librarians at the Tidewater Community College/City of Virginia Beach Joint-Use Library turned one of their library instruction classrooms into a dynamic and flexible space using movable seating and iPads. This article explores the reasons for making such a change, the benefits of doing so, how the new classroom has affected librarians' teaching methods, and gives specific information about apps used for class activities.

Lessons from a Joint-Use College/University Library

Column Editor's NoteCommunity college libraries are deeply underrepresented in the professional literature and organizations of academic librarianship. As a result, the challenges and successes that take place in the community college world are largely invisible to others. This JLA column lifts the curtain to reveal the uniqueness of community college libraries as described by their most passionate advocates: the librarians who work there. Articles in this column pay tribute to the commitment and creativity of community college librarians by providing a platform where they can share their professional perspectives and stories. Want to write for this column? Interested authors are invited to submit articles to the editor at kimreed@cwidaho.cc.Joint-use libraries aim for the most effective use of resources in supporting the needs of multiple institutions, whether high schools, colleges, or universities. However, these streamlined organizations are challenging to design, complex to administer, and often suffer from staffing conflicts and territorial disputes. In this article, the author describes a successful model of a joint-use library, The University Library of Columbus, whose multilayered evolution has generated a multi-institutional library that serves students from a community college, a university, and a technical college. By describing the history and development of their model, as well as details about their agreements and functions, the author shares tips and provides guidance for those who may be developing future joint-use models.

From borders and landscape to ecosystem: reconfiguring library services to meet the needs of South African youth

In this article we consider the configuration of the South African library and information services (LIS) sector, and analyse the extent to which its structuring facilitates or hinders optimum service to the children and youth of South Africa. The background to our investigation is the crisis in public schooling and the plight of South African youth who suffer disproportionate rates of poverty and unemployment. In our investigation we examine the planning and practice in two new libraries – one a community library, and one a joint-use library for learners and local residents – in an effort to establish the extent to which libraries may partner with schools to take advantage of new thinking that recommends a whole system approach, encapsulated in the metaphor of LIS as an ecosystem. We conclude that this new approach might generate models of service delivery that transcend boundaries that traditionally delineate and confine sub-sectors in the LIS sector.

Partnering with Public Library Services: A Town and Gown Affair

This article describes the collaborative effort between academic reference and Public Library Services (PLS) in developing and sustaining a resume resources program at a joint-use library. The resume resources workshops are a part of the summer workshop series, Adult Computer Camp, organized by the PLS department at the Alvin Sherman Library (ASL) of Nova Southeastern University (NSU). The summer workshop series offers an innovative variety of workshops to the public featuring online and computer resources. These workshops have been a successful collaboration between these two departments at the ASL, a joint-use or “town and gown” library.

Why do Staff of Joint-Use Libraries Sometimes Fail to Integrate? Investigating Cultures and Ethics in a Public-Tertiary Joint-Use Library

Joint-use libraries have identified staff integration as a problem. Using focus groups, this project investigated the culture, professional ethics, and attitudes of staff in a public-tertiary joint-use library in Auckland, New Zealand. Findings show some difference in organizational cultures, but more variation at the lower level of roles and tasks.

Jungtinė biblioteka – dar vienas bibliotekų bendradarbiavimo modelis, naujas bibliotekų tipas ar būsima bibliotekų veiklos forma

Nė viena šiandienė biblioteka individualiai negali suteikti prieigos prie visų vartotojams reikalingų informacijos šaltinių. Prieigos problema nuolat aštrėja ir bibliotekoms tenka spręsti informacijos aprūpinimo bei paklausos suderinimo problemą. Vienas iš galimų sprendimo būdų – glaudesnis bibliotekų bendradarbiavimas, tenkinant vartotojų poreikius. Jau įprastomis bibliotekų bendradarbiavimo formomis tapo įvairūs bibliotekų tinklai, susivienijimai, konsorciumai, asociacijos. Viena iš glaudžiausio bibliotekų bendradarbiavimo formų – jungtinės bibliotekos. Straipsnyje keliama jungtinių bibliotekų kaip naujo reiškinio bibliotekininkystėje problema bei pristatomi vieno iš autorių atlikto jungtinių bibliotekų egzistavimo galimybių Lietuvoje tyrimo rezultatai. Straipsnyje daroma išvada, jog jungtinės bibliotekos – tai perspektyvi bibliotekų veiklos forma.Pagrindiniai žodžiai: mokslinė biblioteka, bibliotekų bendradarbiavimas, jungtinės bibliotekos, viešoji biblioteka, bibliotekų tapatybė.Joint Library – a New Model of Library Co-operation, a New Type of Library or a New Form of Future Libraries?Janina Pupelienė, Simona Baliutavičiūtė SummaryToday, no one individual library can provide access to all information resources needed to their users. The problem of access is growing, and libraries have to accommodate information provision and demand. A possible solution of this problem is a close co- operation of libraries in order to satisfy users’ needs. Various networks, unions, consortiums of libraries are the most common forms of such co-operation. The most radical form of today‘s library co-operation is establishment of joint-use libraries. Library co-operation and particular joint-use libraries are shown as very useful for individual libraries in the article. Authors of the article give attention to various sides of joint-use library practice. They present the latest publications (Hansson, 2010) where the library identity problem while joining different types of libraries have been described.The article presents joint use libraries as a new phenomenon in library science, together with the analysis of the possibilities of such libraries in Lithuania. Considering the existence some joint-use libraries (in all cases public and school libraries are merged) in Lithuania and not very enthusiastic comments on them by some Lithuanian library professionals, authors of the article intend to present this form of joint library activities more widely to stimulate Lithuanian library managers’ interest to this innovative form.Authors believe that the current situation in Lithuania is favourable for adopting good experience of world libraries and organising joint-use libraries in the country.As a kind of a pilot research, library staff and users of two university and county libraries of Lithuanian cities – Klaipėda and Šiauliai – have been questioned in order to discover their opinion on this form of library. According to the results, library users are more enthusiastic about joint-use libraries in their cities than library staff.Both groups of respondents represented quite a similar understanding of the main benefits of joint libraries. As the most positive benefits, comfortable access to all kinds of needed information has been highlighted by 38% of questioned users and by 33% of library staff. Facilities and complexity of transformed library activities have been stressed as the main problematic areas of joint libraries for both librarians and users. A half (54%) of librarians stressed the need of additional skills in case of organising a joint library. The ability to adapt the different needs of users and provision of service for them has been mentioned as the main requirement for these new skills.The study has revealed a lack of information on joint libraries among the library staff and users of the analysed Lithuanian cities. Despite this lack, results of the research concerning the general opinion on joint-use libraries is close to the analysed publications in the world‘s media. The main conclusion of the article: Lithuanian library managers have to value joint-use libraries as an innovative and possible form for the future development of libraries in Lithuania.

Addressing the Needs of the Homeless: A San José Library Partnership Approach

Describes an urban joint-use library's approaches to library programs for homeless children, teens, and adults as well as agencies the library could partner with. Proposes that libraries put more effort into reaching out to the homeless community instead of assuming the normal expectation that people will come to the library.

Working at a Joint-Use Library

ABSTRACT The St. Lucie West Library, also known as the FAU Treasure Coast Campus Library, is a joint-use library facility, with Florida Atlantic University partnering with Indian River Community College and the St. Lucie County (FL) Library System. This article will discuss the circulation, course reserves, interlibrary loan, and collection management services of the three partners, as well as the training of new employees in this joint-use venture and the methods of managing the St. Lucie West Library. A list of suggestions for improving present and future joint-use libraries is included.

Setting up a joint-use library facility: testing an African model in Wesbank, Western Cape

Setting up a joint-use library facility: testing an African model in Wesbank, Western Cape

Creating and Capitalizing on the Town/Gown Relationship: An Academic Library and a Public Library Form a Community Partnership

This article highlights the birth and current benefits of a partnership between Keene State College and Keene Public Library. It is a smaller one-on-one partnership that represents a rarer model than that of consortia and joint-use library partnerships. The authors offer additional ideas for partnering with local community groups in order to strengthen the town/gown relationship.

Voices from the Trenches

Abstract It has been over two years since Cy-Fair College Branch in Cypress, Texas, opened as a joint-use library for both a community college and a public library. Cy-Fair College is a brand new college and it partnered with Harris County to create a library for both the college community and the public. Two of the founding librarians reflect on what went right, what went not so right, and what the future holds for such ventures.

Toward Continual Reform: Progress in Academic Libraries in China

This article traces recent developments in China’s academic libraries. Areas covered include managing human resources, restructuring library departments, revising and implementing new policies, evaluating services and operations, establishing library systems, building new structures, and exploring joint-use library models. China’s academic libraries are focusing more on the user; consequently, several major changes accompany this endeavor.

Staffing Challenges for a Joint-Use Library

Nova Southeastern University and the Broward County Board of County Commissioners engaged in a cooperative agreement to build a joint-use library to serve the citizens of Broward County and the students, faculty, and staff of Nova Southeastern University. Two institutions show that together they can provide more, and better, services to their constituents than they can separately. The authors have discussed one of the earlier challenges to making this joint-use library successful-creating a staff plan, recruiting, hiring, and training staff. The authors describe recruitment and hiring library staff for a joint-use library.

Seminole Community Library

Abstract St. Petersburg College and the City of Seminole in Pinellas County, Florida have entered into an agreement to build a joint-use library to serve both the city and the college. The library is being constructed on the Seminole Campus of the college, a new campus, and completion is planned for Fall 2003. The library will be managed and staffed by the city, while the college owns the building and provides administrative support functions (e.g., technical support, maintenance, and security). This library is one of a number of joint-use libraries operating or planned in Florida.

A Joint University, College and Public Library

Florida Atlantic University, Indian River Community College, and the St. Lucie County Library developed a joint-use library facility serving the information needs of three distinct populations. This article reviews planning, staffing, managing, and collection development issues encountered by the partners of the joint-use library. The complex nature of the operation is described through interviews with library staff and library administrators. Agreements between the cooperating libraries are included.

Public Library Joint-Use Partnerships

With the growing emphasis on cooperation, collaboration and resource sharing, and increased competition for public resources, many educational institutions and public libraries are considering joint-use library facilities. This article explores the main types of partnership possibilities for academic institutions and public libraries in the United States and includes an in-depth outline of the challenges that face joint-use libraries. The article discusses methods of overcoming these challenges, opportunities, and advantages of partnering. A Feasibility Checklist for use in evaluating potential joint-use facilities is included as are sample contracts/agreements.