EAST BRUNSWICK — The East Brunswick Public Library is preparing to join a major library sharing organization, giving more choice to library cardholders.
The organization, Libraries of Middlesex Automation Consortium (LMxAC), will make it possible for the East Brunswick library to pool resources with 24 other libraries.
This move will give East Brunswick library cardholders the ability to use materials from other libraries in the organization.
“We are an organization that has a 30- year tradition of getting libraries to save money and share resources,” Irlene Palmer, executive director of LMxAC, said.
“Because of the digital age, libraries are very expensive and can’t go it alone,” Library Director Mary Ellen Firestone said.
Joining with other libraries will make it possible for East Brunswick residents to borrow over 2.6 million books, magazines, CDs and DVDs available at other libraries.
“No library could have all of their patrons’ needs,” Palmer said, adding that through the consortium, libraries in Middlesex, Monmouth and Union counties are able to request materials from one another.
The Middlesex Community College Library is also a member of the consortium, giving East Brunswick residents the ability to request items from the college library.
Library officials have spent eight months contemplating this move, which they see as beneficial to library members.
In order to join the consortium, the library computer systems must first be updated to properly integrate with the systems in use at libraries in the consortium.
Once the East Brunswick system is up- dated to meet the standards of the LMxAC, the library will be able to join the consortium, which is expected to happen by the end of the year.
The East Brunswick library is also getting ready for another change: Firestone is set to retire June 1 after 25 years with the library.
In 1996, she was awarded the American Library Association’s Bessie Boehm Moore Award in recognition of her creation of a computer literacy program for seniors.
The East Brunswick Public Library was visited by 376,462 patrons last year, and has 28,935 cardholders, representing 61 percent of the township’s population.
Other member libraries of the LMxAC include the Monroe Township Library, North Brunswick Public Library and both of the Old Bridge Public Library locations.