Rural public libraries in multitype library cooperatives - Rural Libraries and Information Services

The paths of multitype cooperation took two major directions in the United States. The first was the evolution of public library cooperatives to multitype systems or, in the case of some states, development of cooperatives from the beginning as multitype rather than single type. The second path was the development of another layer of cooperation which included existing single type systems. The development of the networks depended on the political and economic climate in the individual states as well as the philosophies and personalities of the individual leaders who made key contributions to the network development within the states.

Indiana chose the first option and was the first state to establish multitype cooperatives in 1967. Colorado also established their cooperatives as multitype from their inception in 1968. New Jersey cooperatives were established in 1989. Illinois took the successful cooperation model that was created in 1965 and moved it in an evolutionary process to multitype in governance in 1983. New York, however, established another cooperative structure called the Reference and Research Library Systems in 1978 rather than changing or evolving the existing public library system structure. Minnesota also established multicounty multitype library systems in 1979 as an enhancement to the cooperative public library systems that were in existence.

The governance structure of the previously described cooperative arrangements has been primarily through state authorization and, in some cases, funded with state dollars or, in others, authorized by state statutes with funding coming primarily from the federal LSCA programs. There is another type of governing structure that is often found in multitype cooperatives as they are established as not-for-profit corporations--as 501 C3 organizations. Certainly OCLC is the largest of the cooperative organizations of this type. Major regional networks such as SOLINET, PALINET, and AMIGOS are all part of this multitype cooperative activity that took place in the United States.

Within the last eight years, several statewide developments have occurred. California has invested time and money in a multiyear planning process in order to implement a statewide multitype library network. Illinois in 1985 commissioned a study to look at the library systems in Illinois. One of the key recommendations of Vision, 1996, A Plan for the Illinois Library Systems in the Next Decade (HBW Associates, 1986) was to reduce the number of systems in Illinois from the eighteen existing at that time (p. 155). In yet another evolutionary process involving local decision making, the number of Illinois systems has been reduced to twelve. New York also commissioned a study of systems which recommended eliminating the research and reference library systems structure. In Indiana, the area library service authorities are in the process of becoming a single statewide program rather than a regionally based network.

These changes have meant a different means of supporting and providing cooperative service to members. This is especially true in the case of rural libraries where dependence on the cooperative has been greatest. These evolutionary, and in some instances revolutionary, changes are making way for the facilitation and management of access to broader network services such as the Internet. This development is moving straight-away into the "virtual library" movement which involves not only libraries but also all types of information providers.