All Together Now?
California library construction bill calls for 'joint-use projects,' but it's not clear what joint use really means (which suits librarians just fine)
Staff -- School Library Journal, 3/1/2000
California's public libraries will receive a much-needed $350 million for construction and renovation if state voters approve a bond measure on the March 7 ballot. But the legislation has an interesting twist: in doling out the money, the state must give priority to "joint-use projects" between school and public libraries. The term "joint use" usually sends shivers down the spines of school and public librarians, who fret about potential problems like how to keep kids safe at a school library open to the public or how to create a collection that serves both a school curriculum and the average adult. (Do you, for example, buy The Joy of Sex?) But California library leaders--both school and public--are happily supporting this particular bond measure, joint-use provision and all. Why? According to those who lobbied for it, the language of the measure is so vague that a joint-use project could mean lots of things besides actually sharing a physical space. The law says funding priority must go to "joint-use projects in which the agency that operates the library and one or more school districts have a cooperative agreement." No one knows exactly what that means yet--if the referendum passes, a special board will be set up to develop regulations. But supporters of the measure see many sorts of cooperative projects--some already in place--that might fit the bill: shared automation systems, reading programs, or class visits, for instance. Ann Cousineau, who's helped spearhead the California Library Association's effort to pass the ballot measure, says the language of the legislation was originally much worse. It demanded that libraries built with the money actually sit on or adjacent to school grounds. The association lobbied successfully to make the bill less restrictive, Cousineau says, but there was no way to completely avoid the demand for joint use. Why? Because California Gov. Gray Davis--who's made education the cornerstone of his tenure--wanted it. "We realized in order to have a bond bill we needed to have that in there," Cousineau says. The California School Library Association (CSLA) also supports the measure, though it, too, lobbied to "tone down" the joint-use language, says Richard K. Moore, CSLA's publicity co-chair. Joint use, Moore says, "is always a politician's dream solution, because it doesn't take any thought, and you're not actually talking to public and school librarians."-- Andrea Glick
