School and Public Library Collaboration: A Phenomenology of Working Together

Abstract

Collaboration between school and public librarians has many benefits for the institutions, the communities they serve, and the librarians themselves. This study sought to understand more about the librarian’s experience of collaborating in a rural area of the Midwestern United States. Using phenomenology as a research method, twenty in-depth interviews were conducted with school and public librarians. The following themes emerged: (1) the meaning of collaboration, (2) the role of communication, (3) the dilemma of demonstrating value and (4) the impact of perceptions and limitations. The findings indicate that the librarians in this study want to work together more but are impacted by systematic and regional constraints that impact the depth and frequency of collaboration.