Fragments of a dispute on cooperation between libraries

The politic of cooperation, that the « ministère de la Culture » and the « Conseil régional » have contributed to start in the Rhône-Alpes area six years ago, has produced efficient results in terms of services : bibliographical data basis, collective regional catalog, cooperative purchasing of audiovisual programs, various editorial produces. That landscape, however, is actually darkening with the rise of new networks centered on the « Bibliothèque nationale » and the « Bibliothèque de France ». Beyond this context, which implies a reorientation of the choices of the cooperation on regional level, it is the basement of the concept of cooperation itself which is examined in this paper. It does appear that the cooperation practice is not as natural and fluent as it is sometimes said ; therefore, a reflexion on the very ways of cooperating is now needed as regarding the stakes, the final aims, the practice and its means, the partnerships, the professionals.
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