This study aims to conduct a quantitative analysis of the cooperative functions formed within inter-municipal areas by libraries under the jurisdiction of municipalities, and to conduct an institutional analysis of the effectiveness of incorporating the evaluated cooperative functions in cooperation within prefectural areas.

　The first consideration is to divide libraries under the jurisdiction of municipalities into multiple groups of municipalities with different cooperative functions, and to quantitatively analyze the operational achievements of each group of municipalities in relation to the input factors. The evaluation result showed that the operational achievements of the group of municipalities formed by computer system integration and intra-regional material transport network tend to be statistically significantly higher than the other groups.

　The next consideration is to conduct an institutional analysis of the effectiveness of incorporating those evaluated cooperative functions in cooperation within prefectural areas including inter-municipal areas, from the perspective of geographical scope and comparison with other public facilities. As a result, it was confirmed that incorporating those cooperative functions is effective, and that incorporating those cooperative functions requires not only the framework of the traditional library law but also the vertical cooperation of contract type among local governments with different hierarchies. This is due to the integration of functions as well as the associated cost sharing.