Serving Two Masters | Library by Design, Spring 2015; Library Journal, 5/21/15

Ian Chant, Library Journal; Serving Two Masters | Library by Design, Spring 2015:

"Joint-use libraries, especially partnerships between public libraries and colleges, are rare but not unheard of. In an era of belt-tightening, pooling resources with a partner that shares many of your institution’s goals can be a tempting proposition for schools and cities alike. It’s complex, but as seen at the Tidewater Community College/City of ­Virginia Beach Joint-Use Library, opened in 2013, it can also be extremely rewarding.

While their missions are broadly the same, academic and public libraries differ in important details of their practices, from collection development to peak hours of operation. Where populations with varying needs collide, tensions can arise between students seeking study time and families coming for story time. Those differences mean that many such operations, says Virginia Beach Public Library (VBPL) director Eva Poole, don’t live up to their potential, becoming “roommates rather than partners.” That’s just what the staffers at the joint-use building are working to avoid, and the building was designed to make that teamwork easier to accomplish."