Agenda - 08-20-2009 - 1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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3 In August 2008 forty-three of the seventy-seven public library systems in North Carolina were represented at the Library Cooperation Summit in Boone, NC. At the summit the participants were asked to rank what type of cooperative projects would have the most positive impact on their library patrons. The top four projects were: 1) Affordable and accessible bandwidth available across the entire state. 2) Support for a statewide borrowing and delivery system 3) An Open Source Integrated Library System for all public libraries 4) A Netflix model for statewide borrowing and delivery system. Affordable and accessible bandwidth is becoming a top priority for libraries all over the country. In many areas of North Carolina, including northern Orange County, reliable bandwidth is not yet available. This is most evident at the Cedar Grove Branch where there have been several instances of dropped connections with the Time-Warner internet service provider, which affected branch operations with intermittent service for two months. Orange County IT Department worked closely with library staff and Time -Warner to address the situation. At present, service has been restored, but library and IT continue to monitor and evaluate long term service reliability. County management is also tracking grant opportunities through the federal economic stimulus package to help local governments leverage broadband infrastructure improvements. The Gates Foundation has recently launched a nationwide effort to collect detailed information about all public library internet connections. This effort, named the Broadband Assessment Project, will help the foundation and its partners raise awareness of the need for high-quality Internet in public libraries and how to meet this goal. The survey was conducted in North Carolina in late November and early December. The results of the survey will be released later in 2009 and will assist the State Library in planning for possible solutions. Priorities 2, 3 & 4 are part of a desire to address the need for a statewide virtual catalog that would provide reciprocal borrowing, statewide materials delivery, and resource sharing. The State Library is developing a task force to work on the plan to take the idea of a statewide catalog that will give North Carolinians "what they want, when and where they want iY' and have it grow into a reality by the end of 2011. A follow-up summit on the statewide broadband access and resource sharing will take place on August 12 at the 2009 NCPLA Summer Conference. At August 20t" work session, I will be more than happy to update the BOCC on meeting and share how these two projects will impact library service in Orange County. OCPL/CHPL Collaboration Project: Orange County Library staff and Chapel Hill Library staff met in May 2009 to begin discussions on possible collaboration alternatives between the two systems. A preliminary report summarizing initial alternatives for enhanced coordinate of efforts is attached. However, due to several scheduling conflicts, the Orange County Public Library and Chapel Hill Public Library staffs have been unable to meet for further discussions since that time. On August 19th there will be a meeting between County and Town Managers and appropriate county and library staff, to review the library services alternatives, assess their impact and prioritize. County management will provide the Board with a summary of the meeting at the August 20`" work session.