"In a world where educational and cultural institutions face dwindling financial support, both private and public, none of us will thrive unless we can make the case that we provide compelling, essential, and unique value to a significant public." ~ Michael Fox
Librarians have a long history of collaboration, particularly
in the technical services. Consider creation and sharing of
bibliographic records as well as inter-library loan. Both were the
result of a strong user services ethic to make content much more widely
available. While librarians typically have cooperated with each other,
this tradition should be an asset in cooperating with others.
A recent study found that 77 percent of the public libraries
surveyed had partnered with another community organization within the
last two years. Most of these were small scale projects. Providing
public meeting space and reference services were the most common
library contributions. Public libraries were must likely to collaborate
with museums or historical organizations. The major reasons not to
collaborate were:
While partners and partnerships are most likely to receive attention when times are dark, extending the reach of the public library makes sense at any time. A single institution or agency will always be limited in what it can accomplish. Having allies or friends pays substantial dividends and that is the first step. A public library with its users and supporters is a learning community and our allies are those involved in other learning communities.
What agencies or organizations in your community might or should be allies?
In order to respond to such a question, you need to have a firm fix on your mission, goals, and objectives. If you can articulate these to others, you should be able to identify others whose mission, goals and objectives are similar to yours. For example, libraries, archives, and museums have much in common since all are involved in cultural, educational, and preservation missions. We help people "to tell stories" and then capture the stories so that they can be shared with others.
Allies typically promote broad missions such as the preservation of content and providing access to particular audiences. Partners go beyond this cooperate to achieve a particular result. For example, a fast food outlet cooperates with the public library to sponsor an adult summer reading program. Results would include recognition for good citizenship for the outlet and the resources needed to implement a successful program for the library.
While decreasing funding and increased demands for service are normally cited, other variables are also at work:
Which of these variables seems most compelling to you? Can you identify others?
There are several good results that may come from a successful partnership:
Partnerships and their results should be firmly rooted in specific community needs. They should solve a real problem and that includes increasing the quality of life.
What might be a good example of a real community problem?
A successful partnership must provide benefits to both parties.
What benefits might the library provide to its partner?
What do you see as the most desirable outcome of a successful partnership?
There could be negative results too:
One of the essential elements of a successful partnership is the ability to define partnership in a clear and absolutely unambiguous way. For example, a partnership may be formal or informal. It may function briefly for a single event or it may be a continuing program. In some cases, a partnership is merely an endorsement by one partner while in other cases each partner makes substantial and equal contributions.
In a full partnership, authority, responsibility, risk, and accountability are shared equally.
Although it may seem automatic, there is a need for an
operational definition for your community and some consideration of the
degree to which partners should be limited to those that are community
based. Partners could be at some distance such as the state library and
archives or a national foundation or government agency. Funding
agencies beyond the community are typically interested in innovative
start-ups, but are not interested in a continuing relationship.
Partners may be:
Where would you look for partners?
Partners come in a variety of flavors. However, each agency or
institution inevitably has some assets and some liabilities and these
must be identified and considered at the beginning. Exactly what a
partner might contribute to the enterprise must be determined.
Non-profits seem to
have fewer liabilities and these include government agencies, including
public schools, and civic or community help organizations that are
established and have a good reputation. For-profits are also possible,
but connotations may be problematic. If Fat Burgers or Bill's
Beer sponsors the adult reading program does that mean that the library
encourages poor eating and drinking habits?
Contributions come in various forms. For example, a partnering or
collaborating TV or radio station might contribute air time. A local
athletic team might contribute tickets, caps, T shirts, and the like.
These are called "in kind" contributions.
Would you exclude for-profits from your list of potential partners?
Several variables should be considered in evaluating potential partners.
The partnering process can be quick and easy or the result of a considerable and deliberate process. Add a sponsor to an adult film festival may require little effort. Creating partnerships for a small business information center may require considerable time and effort. This should be a carefully articulated formal process that builds upon the library's mission, goals, and objectives statements. It should be done at the Librarian's level and not delegated to a particular unit.
Decisions to partner require an acute knowledge of the libraries' assets and liabilities. The resources available to the library may fall into either category. The hope is that the partnership will build upon the library's strengths and complement or compensate for weak areas. Resources to be evaluated include:
Ideally, a somewhat similar audit would be done for the potential partner to confirm what it would bring to the table and how complementary the match would be.
What assets or strengths would the library most likely bring
to the table?
Collaborators share a common vision. Typically, goals and objectives
make that clear. For example, museums and libraries share a common
vision of preservation and providing thoughtful access to artifacts and
content.
Ideas or very preliminary proposals are the first step. They may come from the potential partner or the library. After some back and forth, negotiation, and the like, a relatively firm proposal should be prepared and presented to the appropriate administrative leaders. Board approval may be required and further negotiation may be needed before all the approvals are complete. Benefits for the community and each partner must be visible and persuasive.
Timing can make a difference. A typical discussion question would be: is this the right time for such an initiative?
A letter or memorandum of agreement represents a formal agreement that will govern the partnership. The agreement will typically include:
Just as the library's services and collections are based upon a current, community-based statement of mission, goals, and objectives, the partnership must also have specific goals and objectives as well as the metrics need to measure success. Dates for particular accomplishments are needed as are particulars on who will measure success and how.
Successful partnership requires several skills and abilities:
Evaluation is both simple and complex. It is simple: is the partnership working? Is reasonable progress being made? It is complex because success may be difficult to measure or partners may not share the same views or perspectives or interpretations. Ideally, the goals and objectives and the relevant metrics will reduce the possibility of misunderstanding or variant interpretations.
As you might imagine, partnerships, like marriage, encounter a variety of problems:
What problems would you anticipate in a partnership in your community with the partner?
Sometimes, the problems are library ones. Typical library problems might include:
With the library?
Lafayette, California has proposed a new library facility to be
called the "Learning Consortium" with twelve area museums and other
institutions partnering with the city library. The focus is on the
"third place" [home is the first place and work is the second] where
people may enjoy good company and come together to learn.
In the same place, a nearby medical center will cooperate with the
library to create a strong community health/wellness program that will
combine enhanced access to medical information with a variety of
programs.
Another example is a situation where the local museum hosts a
notable traveling exhibit and the library partners with best content
lists for print and digital content as well as book talks. With proper
promotion, such collaboration brings new users to the library.
In Indianapolis, the city parks and recreation department partnered
with the public library to establish satellite libraries in recreation
facilities. Users may check out books at the rec center and then pick
them up at their library branch. Homework centers may also be available
as more public use computers become available at each site.
