Central library of Carinthia in Ravne na Koroškem (KOKR) and Slovenian academic library in Celovec (SŠK) are partner libraries that face several challenges in their cross-border cooperation. In our research, we were interested in the areas in which the two libraries cooperate and how they help each other. We conducted six semi-structured interviews with staff from the two libraries, which revealed that they were generally satisfied with the cooperation, but that they could work together on more projects (the two current joint projects are successful) and in more different areas. In particular, they could meet more often for consultations to exchange experiences, opinions and examples of good practice. We also learned that there are some challenges in the area of funding for library cross-border activities and that it would be important to have a staff member specifically working on the cooperation between the two libraries, and to be adequately paid for this. There are several libraries around the world and in Slovenia that cooperate with a cross-border library. The data obtained on the cooperation in KOKR and SŠK were compared with the services, projects and activities in other cross-border libraries in Slovenia.
|