Joint Libraries : Models That Work

The joint-use college/public library can be an ideal solution to serving patrons while managing overextended resources, and this illuminating book scrutinizes successes and failures of the joint-use model. Three founding faculty librarians of a joint-use college/public library discuss the factors that should go into evaluating when and where a joint library is suitable. Incorporating lessons learned from five case studies, the authors Include a short history of joint libraries, exploring how this model is a natural evolution from reciprocal borrowing, shared catalogs, and interlibrary loan Explain how to manage all aspects of a joint-use library, including choices about the physical plant, decisions on contractual requirements, collection development, classification systems, cataloging and technical services issues, personnel, and more Address emerging trends and best practices for serving students and the general public simultaneously Offer interviews with administrators and staff in successful joint-use libraries Anyone interested in joint-use libraries in particular, or radical ideas for extending resources in general, will want the information in this book.

Claire B. Gunnels is founding faculty and assistant director of the Lone Star College-CyFair Branch Library, a joint library with Harris County Public Library in Houston, Texas. She is the author of LIFE in the Library: Events to Build Community (2009) and writes occasionally for Community & Junior College Libraries. Gunnels earned her bachelor s degree in history from Mount Holyoke College and her master s degree in library science from Simmons College.

Susan E. Green came to Lone Star College-CyFair Branch Library as founding faculty. Previously, she served as branch manager for the Maud Marks branch of Harris County Public Library. She has written for Community & Junior College Libraries and Inquiry. She earned her bachelor s degree in business administration from Washington University in St. Louis, her master s in business administration from the University of Texas at Arlington, and her master s in library science from the University of North Texas.

Patricia M. Butler started her professional career as an archivist for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation after graduating from the University of North Texas with a bachelor s degree in history. She earned her master s degree in library and information sciences from the Catholic University of America. She later served as a librarian for the Virginia Department for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, a reference/instruction librarian at the Manassas Campus of Northern Virginia Community College, and from 2002 until 2009, as a reference librarian at the Lone Star College-Tomball Community Library.