Joint use libraries in New Zealand are generally found in the form of School and Community Libraries, primarily in rural areas, but there is little information available about their effectiveness or success. Research was undertaken by surveying all identified joint use libraries in New Zealand and then following this with detailed Case Studies of three selected libraries. As these joint use libraries continue to be established in rural and urban areas of New Zealand, this research aimed to establish the Critical Success Factors for School and Community (Joint Use) Libraries in New Zealand. A comparison of these factors with those found in overseas literature on Joint Use Libraries has yielded guidelines to enable present and future manifestations of these libraries in New Zealand to be effective and successful.A joint use library is one in which two or more separate library service providers cooperate to serve their user groups equitably in a shared facility. Joint use libraries (also known as dual use, combined use, school and community, school/public, university/public, or polytechnic/public libraries) have existed for nearly one hundred years. They have been established or are being considered in a number of countries including Australia, Canada, the United States of America, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. In the past they were often established to provide public library services in rural areas where a lack of funding made normal public library provision difficult, if not impossible, so sharing facilities with existing school libraries was a viable solution to the problem. In these cases they succeeded best when there were strong links between the school and the community.In more recent times these library partnerships have continued to be developed for economic reasons. However, they are also developed to:• encourage lifelong learning by allowing general public access to large university collections and professional reference staff; • make larger public collections, superior information technology, and better staffing numbers available to school pupils.Numerous failures of these partnerships have been documented and the chief reasons for negative results have been:• a lack of perceived savings or economic advantage;
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