Library ready to offer expanded offerings
By Nate Karlin
tonganoxie@theworldco.info
Ten hours was all it took for 28 Tonganoxie Public Library staff members and volunteers to re-barcode about 15,000 items on Friday and Saturday.
The library staff is still waiting on an estimated 2,000 items to be returned to have a completely re-barcoded system.
Now that the re-barcoding project is nearly complete, library patrons with a new library card will have full access to the library’s new NExpress catalog system.
This system will give patrons access to nearly 3 million books and other items by accessing collections of 30 libraries in northeast Kansas and the Kansas City area.
On Friday, the library was closed as volunteers and staff members worked on the project.
“It went really, really well,” said library director Sharon Moreland. “Everything was in order so we were able to easily find books to match their barcodes.”
People will be able to order any of the items online, similar to amazon.com, she said.
Library members just have to get on the Web site, find an item they want from another library, order it and then wait for it to arrive in Tonganoxie. The person will even receive an e-mail confirmation when the item arrives in town, Moreland said.
Residents will have to get a new card to go with the new barcodes. Library members who have filled out a paper application within the past two years won’t have to fill out a new application, she said. Longtime members will have to fill out another application to get their new card.
In September 2003, the library board approved the NExpress catalog, which is provided by the Kansas City Library Consortium through the Northeast Kansas Library System.
In addition to a one-time start-up fee of $1,500, the new system will cost the library $3,000 annually.