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Library prepares to join new network
6/20/2012 10:40:25 AM
Splash Staff Writer
The Liberty Lake Municipal Library is taking steps to join a new library system - the Cooperative Information Network (CIN) - this month, with plans to launch Aug. 21. The new system joins the library to a group of 25 libraries spanning north Idaho and eastern Washington.
"Patrons will be able to search for books from all libraries in the group and request them from their computer," Library Director Pamela Mogen said. "It essentially expands our selection from 30,000 to half a million."
To join the CIN, the Library Board had to make changes to a few policies regarding fees and check out periods.
According to Mogen, to comply with the CIN, library fines will go down to10 cents a day for all overdue items except hardware like flash drives and e-readers. However, the current two-day grace period will no longer exist. In addition, the services will be cut off sooner to patrons accumulating fines. As opposed to the current $10 limit, the library will only allow $3 of accrued fines before refusing services.
Other policy changes allow patrons to check out books for a longer period of time. Currently, regular books can be checked out for three weeks and renewed for an additional three weeks. The new system bumps both options to four weeks.
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Mogen said a few details are still being hammered out, but services to non-residents may see even more changes. While non-residents will have access to all materials at the Liberty Lake Library, whether they'll have access to CIN materials is still unclear. However, she said non-residents with county cards will be able to continue to use those services at the Liberty Lake Library.
Mogen said the library group appealed to Liberty Lake because it works together to share the cost of cataloging systems. The library's current system, she said, was outdated and no longer supported with modern software.
"We'll be saving citizens money by cutting our expenses," Mogen said. "That's money we'll be able to spend in other places on other things, like books."
Library staff is currently training with a mock-version of the system, and Mogen said she hopes to begin issuing new library cards as patrons come in starting in August (non-residents will likely be issued a specially designated card). Still, users won't have to worry about the library losing any of its signature programming or local flavor.
"We're still Liberty Lake's municipal library," Mogen explained. "The CIN isn't interested in telling us how to run things. We don't have to worry about buying something because the CIN says we can't. It's just a group of libraries joining together to make the difficult things easier. We're still in charge of our own destiny, and that's a good thing."