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AccessMichigan: The Challenges and Rewards of Statewide Library Cooperation

Slide 12 of 17

Bear traps

• Communications and miscommunications:
  
• Public librarians
  
• Academic librarians
  
• Promotion
  
• Staff training
  
• Selecting the right mix of services
  
• Remote access
  

OK, so what did we do wrong?

Discuss problems with public and academic librarians. Public librarians irked at sharing “their” money with academic and school libraries. Take it up with Congress. Academic librarians thought I’d taken money from them. Had to explain how the state budget works.

Needed more promotion in non-library outlets, but also needed to be careful not to advertise in places where the library couldn’t or wouldn’t participate.

One of the reasons some libraries wouldn’t participate is that they were concerned about now knowing how the systems worked themselves and they weren’t going to be embarrassed by the public.

Selecting right services was difficult. Hard to find sources for the youngest kids when we started.

Remote access has been a bear. Authorization and authentication continue to be a challenge.