RESOURCE SHARING: CASE STUDY OF A NEW JOINT USE LIBRARY IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

The Berri Library and Information Centre opened in January 1999 as a joint use library between a local authority, a Tafe campus and a high school Described from a Tale perspective are the aims of the library, unexpected problems and perceived advantages after the first six months of operation. Edited version of a paper given at the national Tafe conference Hobart July 1999

Three separate collections, three separate library management systems, three different awards and, of course, three very different philosophies

This is a case study of a very real scenario at the joint use Berri Library and Information Centre, still in its first months of operation.

The following outlines this resource sharing venture between three local libraries: the overall goals of the project, the original aims and objectives, some of the unexpected problems and pitfalls as well as some very unexpected improvements and bonuses already visible in the new library.

Setting the scene

The Berri Library and Information Centre officially opened on 27 January 1999 as the merging of the local public library, a Tafe campus learning resource centre and a new senior school campus library.

The Riverland region in South Australia is close to the Victorian /New South Wales border on the Murray River, some 250 km north east of Adelaide. Berri, being centrally located, has always been the hub of the Riverland as far as government departments and regional services are concerned. R has a population of about 7,000. Glossop, the site of the present high school for Berri and surrounding districts is a tiny rural centre 11 kms from Berri.

Murray Institute of Tafe has four of its seven campuses located in the Riverland. A main campus is located at Berri and there are smaller campuses at Renmark, Loxton and Waikerie.

The idea of the joint use library emerged from plans to build a new, more centrally located, senior high school campus within the township of Berri. This facility had been planned for years and was to be built adjacent to the Tafe campus with resource sharing in mind. When the Glossop High School approached Tafe to consider partnerships that could be developed between the senior campus and Tafe, the idea of developing a joint use library with an information technology focus began. Other resource sharing ideas were for developing a commercial kitchen for Tafe and IVEC students and sharing an engineering workshop at Tafe.

Around the same time the Berri Public Library was looking to expand, with space very limited in the existing Berri Council Chambers. The creation of a joint use library would solve the council's problem and many of the other problems faced by Tafe and the senior school. The school could benefit from the increased stock supplied by council and Tafe. Tafe would benefit from the increased staffing and more space, and the council could achieve a new library with an information technology focus without sacrificing its branch library at Barmera. With the vague plan of the new library facility being built fight next door, Murray Institute of Tafe decided that joining this venture could only enhance its service to its clients.

Original aims and objectives

In forming this tripartite agreement the aim was to create a seamless service from three distinct services and eventually become the kind of dynamic learning centre that none of the individual parties could ever achieve on its own. Original objectives included in the draft service agreement were

* a seamless service, with three acting as one

* a team of highly skilled and professional library and information personnel committed to fostering positive relationships between school, Tafe and council communities

* actively encourage, guide and empower library clients to acquire lifelong learning skills through information literacy and learning skills programs

* network with community groups and organisations and other information services to facilitate access to a wider sphere of information and resources

Over the next six months, we would face similar experiences to those every other new joint use library in Australia and Canada has experienced.

Merging systems

During 1998 the library staff from each party met to discuss the joint venture and tried to plan for the merged service. Meetings between the original staff were enthusiastic and optimistic. However outcomes for policy and planning were often haphazard and unorganised.

An early problem arose when we tried to choose one library management system. Both Tafe and the school were committed to the Library 2001 project, which promised to automate and upgrade every school and Tafe library in South Australia by 1998. The public library had the funding to purchase a new system to automate itself and its branch library at Barmera. With the promise of the Library 2001 project being implemented by August 1998, the logical choice was that system. Council would purchase its share if necessary.

By November 1998 there were frequent phone calls to the Library 2001 Project manager for updates on cabinet sittings and funding approvals. The automation situation was becoming desperate. Our only possible salvation was the frequent building disruptions, extending building completion and the opening date.

However the library was left with no option to open with Urica for public library books, Dynix for high school books and a manual card system for Tale books. This was only the beginning.

Merging staffing

The joint use library has a staffing model by which staff are employed under the one local government award. This model, as against a mixed employment model, was hotly debated. To this end, staff have only moved across to the award at the end of their contract or at the commencement of a new position in the new library.

The public librarian became the acting library manager at the start of the project, taking on a dual role responsibility of community librarian and manager. This person resigned within a few months of the library opening, and has been replaced. A teacher librarian could not be appointed through the state education department so a position was created at a similar level in the ASU/local government award. An experienced teacher librarian out of the education department system was attracted. The Tafe librarian position was a contract up until the opening of the library and a contract was established under the ASU/local government award for this position. With one exception, all positions were converted to the local government award as they were vacated or contracts completed. The library staff currently comprises

* Library manager (employed under the local government award, funded by council)

* Tafe librarian (employed under the local government award, funded by Tafe)

* Teacher librarian (employed under the local government award, funded by the education department)

* Library technician (existing council employee, still funded by council)

* Two library assistants (one employed by local government and funded by Tafe and one school services assistant employed by the education department)

Casual staffing has so far been funded by council. This may be an issue over school holidays and training days where Tafe and school libraries would normally close. This will be an additional, unexpected, cost for Tafe and the high school.

A management committee comprising the council chief executive officer, Tafe campus manager, high school principal, the district education superintendent and the library manager was formed to formulate the service and management agreements. This committee meets regularly to negotiate any other tripartite issue.

Staff expectations and public perception

Staff expectations of the new library were that of having more staff to do the same amount of work. Each individual library had two or three staff, who were all busy, and only just coping with their workload but offering a very personalised service.

The reality of the new library was an unexpected huge increase in new borrowers from all the other Riverland towns, and higher expectations from client groups such as external university students and community organisations in addition to all the normal demands from each organisation.

The notion of a seamless service soon proved difficult to live up to. In only six short months, a new philosophy was slowly emerging as staff realised that they could not be experts in every sphere. Humphrey's[1] dove tailed model of service emerged in relation to staff roles, with Tale staff choosing to remain as Tale specialists, and the teacher librarian remaining the close link that the school requires. From the experience of other joint use libraries, this seems to be a natural progression as staff cling to what is familiar in a new unfamiliar environment.

Team building is always a difficult problem to solve. Staff from all three parties came from very small one or two person libraries. In some cases, the unqualified or paraprofessional staff managed the library service. These people now needed to join a larger team, accept duties of a more administrative nature and accept delegation.

At the beginning of the project, joint use library expert Alan Bundy recommended that an outside, neutral project manager be appointed to help coordinate merging of services and particularly new team roles and positions. It was unfortunate at that time that a formal management committee was yet to be established and over time that committee set other priorities with the project.

All staff agreed at the start of the project that their job satisfaction was very high. By the second month of joint use operation most staff felt as though they were forced into another position and almost felt they deserved compensation. By the third month of operation staff morale was very low. Merging services was taking longer than anticipated and basic processes were taking much longer than normal, making the overall workload much heavier than usual. By the fifth month, basic processes and organisational problems in the library were being solved and a simple finalisation of the interlibrary loans policy and procedures proved to be a major morale booster.

A team building consultant was suggested to run a focus weekend on establishing team roles, identifying conflict and learning to work effectively in a team. The new library manager will prove useful in helping separate and establish team roles and team structure.

Dunford in her 1998 joint use paper[2] said that the library is `a single entity in which staff need to understand the complete system and become multiskilled' and `that is not possible to segregate tasks and allocate them to staff members paid by the relevant authority'. During the first six months the staff were able grasp the concept of a seamless service and learn new tasks as a consequence. However there has been difficulty in distributing workloads evenly. Everyone in the team, at some stage, felt overwhelmed by new pressures, uncertain procedures and unfamiliar or imposed roles. Although the natural progression has been toward a dove tailed model for staff roles as we move out of the familiar, the staff still seem to be committed to seamless service with perhaps specialist roles within the service.

Bundy identified these and many other potential problems in his 1997 paper on joint use public library issues.[3] These problems may be resolved over time, especially now they are recognised by the staff and the management committee. Certainly a review of services in six months time may well determine whether the original objectives are workable or whether a new dove tailed service model is adopted.

Public perception and `keeping Tafe happy'

The previous Tale Learning Resource Centre was a very appreciated and efficient service run by friendly, helpful Tafe library staff who had a good knowledge of the programs offered and course content. The LRC was located right in the main foyer next to the information desk and student services. It provided a convenient, personalised services sometimes at the expense of developing information literacy skills.

Deb Hamblin has noted with her experience of the Rockingham joint use library[4] that although the new library was only 100 metres away, the tyranny of distance was difficult to overcome. The new Berri Library and Information Centre is a mere fifty metres away but too far to quickly drop in for resources or call in for a chat.

The new joint use staff have come to understand the make up of the Tafe clientele and the requirements that each of these client groups might have. The client groups are staff and lecturers, students, the Murray Institute of Tafe Learning Resource Services team and the South Australian Tafe Libraries Learn network. Staff and students could be Riverland based Murray Institute of Tale students or they could be based at any of the other three campuses. Open learning students could be enrolled at any other Tafe campus in the state, be based in the Riverland and still expect a service. The Murray Institute of Tafe library team is spread over all the campuses and the new Berri Library and Information Centre staff would need to become a part of this team. This team communicates over the phone, via email or videoconferencing, and in face to face meetings every three months. There is also a requirement for interlibrary loans and working group involvement in the Learn network of South Australian Tafe libraries.

Merging services

The seamless service proved to be difficult to implement in six short months. It was particularly difficult to merge the specialised corporate service that Tafe lecturers and students require with the unrestricted borrowing philosophy for the public.

Tafe program areas have invested heavily in their video training materials which are used widely across all of Murray Institute of Tafe.

High school teachers came into the joint venture with very little resources to contribute. To this end, Tafe lecturers have not been willing to share their expensive resources with the school staff and have threatened to withdraw all of these resources to their work areas. This was the situation at Berri Tafe several years ago, before a learning resource centre was established and followed a growing trend in some Tale joint use libraries to create smaller learning assistance centres across the campus. This has been resisted relatively successfully so far.

The solution will come with time. A new teacher resource collection will comprise videos and other materials purchased by the library with the combined funds of the school and Tale programs. Other processes and services have had conflicting policies. With reservations, the public library did not ring or notify clients of incoming reservations. As Tafe library staff are aware, lecturers and students need to know the very second a title becomes available.

A much wider periodical collection is now available. The Tafe and teacher librarians need to become accustomed to spending a large proportion of the budget on general interest or so called supermarket magazines. Many Tafe clients see this as a very big plus for their general reading needs.

Murray Institute of Tafe provides a strong support service for open learning students. It has been difficult for all library staff to get used to Tafe students ringing from remote parts of the region and requesting often large reading lists of resources to be issued and posted out to them. Library staff are also getting used to answering calls from sometimes desperate lecturers at other campuses of Murray Institute. The staff have been extremely conscious of criticisms of the service and have endeavoured to satisfy every unusual enquiry.

Resource sharing highlights

The following processes and services have been the highlights of the combined service.

* Combined interlibrary loan services draw on the resources of the public libraries' Plain and Tafe's Learn networks and are managed jointly by the council and Tafe library staff

* An online searching and document delivery services can now be offered to school and Tafe students who have never had access to resources such as Ebscohost, Guidelines and the National periodical service for schools (NAPSS)

* IT and interact in the joint use library has created a learning environment not yet seen in the Riverland area. An IT room provides school and Tafe student with more computer access than they have ever had. Some Tafe students, high school students and the general public have internet access for the first time

* Seminar and meeting rooms are available to community groups

* A reading room is easily converted to a lecture area will prove useful in attracting Tafe groups into the library

* The public display area has provided Tale with a very effective, free promotional area and has the potential to become a strategic marketing tool for Tafe

* Tafe's community services program area has been actively involved in the public library by redesigning the children's area and being involved in school holiday programs

* Renmark campus Aboriginal art students have been working on a beautiful mural in the children's area and it is planned to paint huge banners around the library

* We have noted this year that all of our Aboriginal Education students have used the new library far more than they ever used the old Tafe library. Aboriginal lecturers have been delighted with the renewed enthusiasm for learning

Humphrey's extract of the Hervey Bay joint use library opening speech[5] accurately describes also the new service at Berri as `having much richer resources, and a more sophisticated facility than either partner could have managed alone'.

Conclusion

In a country area such as the Riverland, the new Berri Library has been the only way that students, studying at school, Tafe or university have been able to gain access to high quality technology and support services. Open learning and online learning is taking a major role in education provision, in Tale and in the other learning institutions. The three separate, two person, libraries could never have individually supported these learning technologies or provided such a rich resource base as the Berri Library and Information Centre now has.

A combined resource base, combined professional expertise and a shared philosophy will ultimately make the library a successful resource sharing facility, adding value to its partners and to the community as a whole.

References

[1] Humphrey, J Hervey Bay Library: dovetailed not seamless service in Adelaide 98, Pathways to knowledge:Australian Library and Information Association 5th biennial conference and exhibition, 25-28 October 1998, Adelaide Convention Centre: conference proceedings Canberra, Alia 1999 p323

[2] Dunford, H Cooperation and compromise (also commitment): joint use libraries in isolated areas in Adelaide 98, Pathways to knowledge: Australian Library and Information Association 5th biennial conference and exhibition, 25-28 October 1998, Adelaide Convention Centre: conference proceedings Canberra, Alia 1999 p218

[3] Bundy, A Joint use public libraries: the issues, conference paper presented at the Alia Public Libraries Section and Reference & Information Service Section Conference, Brisbane 9-12 November 1997 [online accessed 26 June 1999] http://www.unisa.edu.au/library/papers/ jointlib.htm

[4] Hamblin, D Method and madness: the development of a tripartite library in Western Australia Australasian public libraries and information services 11(4) December 1998 p181

[5] Humphrey op cit p323

Cathy Shier is the TAFE librarian in a new joint use library facility in South Australia's Riverland region. She has been the librarian for the Berri campus of Murray Institute of TAFE for the past two years and is now part of a team serving high school, Tafe and public clients. Address: Berri Library and Information Service 17 Wilson Street Berri SA 5343 te1(08)85821922 fax[phone] [e-mail]

Cathy Shier Berri Library and Information Centre South Australia Received July 1999