Over the last few years, public interest in local
heritage and family history has dramatically
increased. One way of libraries dealing with this
greater traffic has been to form partnerships with
museums and archives. But there has been little
research into the effectiveness of these
collaborations, or even their effect upon usage of
the collections. This book aims to investigate the
impact of these joint ventures. It takes a largely
qualitative approach, consisting of interviews with
library, archive and museum professionals who have
experience in operating these partnerships. Four
case studies are investigated, which embody
different types of institutional collaboration, and
members of professional bodies are included in order
to ascertain expert opinions. The research also
includes a cross-sectional survey of academic and
public libraries to create a national picture of
partnership arrangements and perceptions. The
analysis should be useful to all those engaged in
such partnerships, or considering them as a means of
opening up access to their treasures.
heritage and family history has dramatically
increased. One way of libraries dealing with this
greater traffic has been to form partnerships with
museums and archives. But there has been little
research into the effectiveness of these
collaborations, or even their effect upon usage of
the collections. This book aims to investigate the
impact of these joint ventures. It takes a largely
qualitative approach, consisting of interviews with
library, archive and museum professionals who have
experience in operating these partnerships. Four
case studies are investigated, which embody
different types of institutional collaboration, and
members of professional bodies are included in order
to ascertain expert opinions. The research also
includes a cross-sectional survey of academic and
public libraries to create a national picture of
partnership arrangements and perceptions. The
analysis should be useful to all those engaged in
such partnerships, or considering them as a means of
opening up access to their treasures.