Cooperative Collection Management Among Four Rural Libraries

Four libraries in East‐Central Illinois established a model cooperative collection development project funded by a Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA) Grant for the purpose of determining if the theory of cooperative collection development could actually be put into practice, specifically in the case of small rural libraries. The project proved to be very successful, demonstrating that theory can work in real situations. Cooperative collection development is a practical solution to problems created by underfunding, inadequate or underdeveloped collections, and long delivery times for interlibrary loans. This article will describe the demonstration project, the methods used to assess the collections, and the process of writing the cooperative plan.