LIBRARY CO-OPERATION IN THE INTER-WAR PERIOD: LESSONS FROM HISTORY

Collaboration between public and academic libraries is currently high on the political agenda and has been the subject of a number of research and demonstration projects during recent years. However, this is not a new venture for the library domain. For example, there was considerable focus on the issue of library co-operation during the interwar period. Given the long history of collaboration between public, academic and other libraries, it is, perhaps, surprising that there are still many difficulties which have yet to be overcome. This may be because past experiences have not been effectively researched, learned from and built upon.