Leading through Partnership: How the Illinois Fire Service Institute Library Leads to Serve its User-Community.

In the over three decades since its establishment in 1990, the Illinois Fire Service Institute (IFSI) Library has been a leader through taking the initiative in developing and maintaining partnerships for the benefit of its primary user community: the firefighters of Illinois. Partnerships at the local, state, national, and international levels have allowed the IFSI Library to respond to the unique information needs of firefighters through the creation and continued use of services and programs which have been created specifically to meet these unique needs, and the IFSI Library's place within the Illinois state fire academy allows these services and programs to be promoted and made available to firefighters across the state. By taking the initiative to create partnerships for the benefit of firefighters, the IFSI Library has established itself as a leader in partnership with both the library and information science field as well as to the fire service. The services and programs made possible through the IFSI Library's partnerships have contributed to Illinois firefighters' ability to access the information and resources that they need to continue keeping their communities safe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]