Forming partnerships to achieve institutional goals is a growing trend both within libraries and in the broader academic community. Such partnerships allow the sharing of expertise, provide access to a wider range of resources than may be possible within one’s own area or organization, and strengthen the library’s position within the university. This paper reviews library partnerships and highlights the benefit of such endeavors for the libraries and their partner institutions.

The objective of this paper is to identify important areas of partnerships for librarians in Kenya. It explores important considerations on which the library draws up partnership strategies, identifies what libraries and their partners can gain from collaborating and also highlights how partnering libraries can mutually enrich and develop each other’s services.

The paper further discusses some of the reasons why libraries enter into partnerships, managerial challenges that arise from partnerships and identifies ways of addressing these issues.

Methods: This is a literature review and commentary on this topic based on recent developments in this area incorporating evidence from a case study and participant observers.

Results: Visibility and access to the library in some unexpected locations as a result of partnerships, can serve as greater a function to the library as to its partner and the university community. The value in addressing this issue is to examine the creative partnerships, of which libraries can avail themselves in an effort to best serve their patrons. The partnerships should be examined at local, regional and international level.

Conclusion: Partnerships present libraries with new tools that would bring the most effective services to the library users at affordable costs. They are a reality as they provide libraries with opportunities to access new skills and technology.