Analysis of Collaboration Models for Medical Libraries Utilizing Public Library Resource Sharing

This study explores resource-sharing collaboration between public libraries and medical libraries as a practical approach to overcoming the limitations medical libraries face in acquiring general collections due to budgetary, spatial, and staffing constraints. Based on domestic cases, two types of collaborative models are identified and analyzed: (1) the installation of Smart Libraries within hospitals and (2) group loan and traveling library services. The Smart Library installation model utilizes the unmanned service infrastructure of public libraries to extend reading services into hospital spaces. Installed in accessible areas such as hospital lobbies, Smart Libraries improve information accessibility for patients, caregivers, and hospital staff while allowing healthcare institutions to provide cultural welfare services without additional operational burden. In this model, medical libraries may function as intermediaries by coordinating collaboration, advising on user characteristics, and supporting collection planning and internal promotion. The group loan model is examined through a case involving the Gangdong Kyung Hee University Hospital Medical Library. This approach enables medical libraries to secure diverse and up-to-date general books without financial expenditure, thereby supplementing specialized medical collections and directly addressing internal users’ reading and leisure needs. Rather than viewing these models as competing approaches, this study conceptualizes them as complementary, level-differentiated collaboration strategies that may be selectively adopted or combined according to institutional conditions. Although limited by the lack of quantitative usage data, this study provides practical implications for sustainable cooperation between public and medical libraries. J Korean Med Libr Assoc 2025;52(1):62-74