CO‐OPERATION: NON‐BOOK MATERIALS

It would not be amiss to begin by considering definitions. “Co‐operation” is understood to be the means of making existing resources available to other libraries and organisations, thereby improving services. The interlending of printed materials between libraries is but one form. More specialised co‐operative effort is reflected in schemes such as SINTO, HULTIS and LADSIRLAC which involve the maintenance of adequate subject coverage within an area, and the means whereby librarians can meet to discuss and solve common problems. In its fullest sense, however, co‐operation has come to mean more than just a method of making existing resources available to the widest number of people; it has come to include the means whereby libraries (and other organisations) can work together towards new objectives which they might be unable to reach on their own. As Dr. Jefferson says in Library co‐operation:—