JOHNSON CITY - East Tennessee State University, Northeast State Technical Community College (NSTCC), and the Watauga Regional Library have worked together to provide a new library system in the region.
Innovative Interface's Millennium Library System, hosted by ETSU, makes over 1.7 million items available to users through a shared catalog and increases the capacity for loan services among libraries.
With the new system, borrowing and lending between academic and public libraries will be far easier.
"Students who live 90 minutes from campus can pick up books at their local public library," said Rita Scher, Dean of ETSU's Charles C. Sherrod Library. "Or, if they want public library books, they can pick them up at their collegeor university. The book collections between the academic and public libraries are fairly distinct, so there is a solid gain for all concerned."
Through participation in the system, Watauga Regional Library, comprised of 17 branches located in 10 area cities and counties, nearly triples the size of its 600,000-item collection.
"It is very exciting to have such a large amount of content that can be accessed and effectively delivered throughout Northeast Tennessee," said Nancy Renfro, Director of the Watauga Regional Library. "The new shared system reaches over 440,000 people across the same communities that our institutions serve."
As technology needs change, the Millennium Library System will continue to support the member libraries. According to Duncan A. Parsons, Library Dean at NSTCC, "The Wayne G. Basler Library is pleased to be involved in the regional migration to Millennium. We believe that this move will enable us to manage the information needs of our campus well into the foreseeable future."
Planning for the new system began over 10 years ago when ETSU's Sherrod Library invited public libraries in the Watauga region to join in a shared book catalog. In 2002, ETSU extended an invitation to Northeast State to join the project, and, this past spring, the new catalog became operational.
For further information about the Millennium Library System, contact Scher at (423) 439-4337.
