Information Research Weblog

I never cease to be amazed at the lack of any historical perspective in relation to our business. My latest bout of amazement is prompted by an article in New Library World (directly accessible if you have access to Emerald Library) on the joint-use university and public library in San Jose, California.

True, this is a big system, but the idea of joint-use libraries goes back to the 19th century and has involved attempts to combine public and college or university systems and public and school systems.

Pretty well all of them end up by splitting - I would say all of them end up this way, but I'm in Sweden and my information on the history of this idea is in Sheffield, so I can't check. I have a vague recollection, for example, of a deal in Cincinnati in the 1930s. However, the reasons for the ultimate failure of the idea is the lack of agreement between the different agencies over who controls what. They may begin by agreeing on the economics of the situation, but in the end the crucial point is that one party or another believes that the system is not delivering what ITS users need.

Good luck to San Jose - but it will be interesting to see how long it survives.