Outsourced PLs Form Consortium.

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Author: Oder, Norman

Four suburban libraries that left the library system serving Memphis and Shelby County to outsource library management to Library Systems & Services, LLC (LSSI) (see News, LJ 6/15/05, p. 17ff.) have formed a new consortium to share books and other services. The Wolf River Library Consortium includes the libraries in Arlington, Collierville, Germantown, and Millington.

When the Tennessee Genealogical Society joins the group later this year, the libraries will have access to about 280,000 books. That's still significantly fewer materials than the offerings of the larger system they left 18 months ago, now called the Memphis Public Library and Information Center, but local officials say the consortium is an improvement. Besides interlibrary loan, the new organization may also offer cardholders direct access to one another's collections.

Meanwhile, the consortium received a $100,000 grant for services to the city of Collierville from the state of Tennessee-money that didn't come through the state library. "The state library and archives knew nothing about this gift," said Jane Pinkston, assistant state librarian for planning and development. She said the libraries were now ineligible for certain state funding, another casualty of leaving the regional system. In addition, the consortium gained a separate grant of $88,000 via the City of Germantown and the Education Commission for database access for students and additional materials for accelerated reader programs, according to Sue Loper, the director in Germantown.

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By Norman Oder