Cooperation in Context: Library Developments in Central and Eastern Europe

Major research and academic libraries in four Central and Eastern European countries (Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia) have undergone significant changes since their socio-political transformations that began in the early 1990s. In-depth interviews with forty-nine (49) key library policymakers were conducted in 1999. The data suggests that cooperation and resource sharing are at the heart of the institutional changes taking place in the libraries in the four countries. Commonalities and differences between and among the countries were identified along four dimensions: centralisation vs. decentralisation, individual vs. collective goals, product vs. process orientation, and global vs. local considerations. A typology of cooperation models (‘artificial,’ ‘contested,’ ‘directed,’ and ‘voluntary’ cooperation) was devised that reflects the changing nature and visions of cooperation as reported by the respondents interviewed. The results raise questions about the exogenous vs. endogenous forces that contribute to the adoption of new attitudes and values toward cooperation and resource sharing.