Co-operation in the Provision of Services to Readers in Conurbations

Co-operation should lead to greater reader satisfaction.Large urban areas may have more than one university and other institutions of higher education, each possessing its own library, along with public and special libraries, all lying within a fairly small geographical area.To students and research workers ease of access to a variety of libraries in the area seems attractive and the relative usefulness of their services important.Undergraduates should naturally expect to have most of their needs satisfied in their own institution, but graduate students and staff may often expect to use other libraries in the neighbourhood.It is the aim of some libraries in conurbations to recognise, evaluate and meet these expectations. Examples are given of the following main areas of activity in Great Britain: Joint records of stock as special projects or fully co-operative cataloguing. Joint announcements of services available from a group of libraries. Co-operative stock building designed to achieve better coverage for the whole area. Staff co-operation and interchange. Local inter-lending services. Unification of administrative procedures. The problems met in general are considered under the following main headings: Different aims of institutions of higher education and hence of libraries. Different views of degree of public access among libraries of all types. Financial inability or unwillingness to join the co-operative arrangements. Geographical difficulties (e.g. public transport or parking problems). Impact of regional and national schemes of co-operation. Uncertainty of academic aims of institutions. Practical problems encountered in the Greater Manchester area are considered, the results so far achieved evaluated and comparisons drawn from other areas of urban cooperation in Great Britain. The justification for local efforts at a time of increasing mechanisation and perhaps of more efficient nationial schemes is discussed.Conclusions involve weighing the advantage to readers of local schemes against cost in financial and "political" terms, the gains and losses to users of less independence for the members of co-operative undertakings and an assessment of how far libraries near in geographical terms are really so in terms of the movement and interests of various types of user.