This study explores partnerships among cultural and educational institutions engaged in informal lifelong learning, focusing on public libraries, museums, public radio, and public television. Data come from surveys of adults; surveys of library, museum, and public broadcast station executives and staff; and field investigations in seven urban communities. Chapters include: (1) "Introduction" (describes partnering behaviors across the four institutions in seven communities with 26 kinds of partnership agreements); (2) "Individuals and Free-Choice Learning Opportunities" (presents a conceptual framework supported by national survey data that shows how characteristics of individuals and communities lead to participation choices); (3) "Assets and Liabilities of Partnerships" (describes various governing, financing, and legal arrangements); (4) "Partnerships and Their Activities" (explains how each group of partnering activities involves unique challenges and opportunities, and meeting the challenges depends upon the routine demands of the activity and institutional resources); (5) "Partnership Risk and Mitigation Strategies" (notes that engaging in partnerships involves risks and returns, and partnerships have learned how to mitigate the risks); and (6) "Partnership Dynamics" (describes how institutional partnerships evolve through a sequence of program stages. An appendix lists the institution respondents.(SM)