The Union County Carnegie Library has joined a pilot program in which libraries share resources to provide their patrons with more materials while reducing costs.

The South Carolina Library Evergreen Network Delivery Systems (SC LENDS) is a consortium of 10 libraries from across the state. As members, the participating libraries will implement the Evergreen open-source integrated library system to manage the transfer of books between libraries. The libraries will share a single catalog allowing patrons to search for items at any of the participating libraries as easily as they do at their local library. Requesting items will be as simple as clicking a button with deliveries made within a few days.

Evergreen is an open-source integrated library system originally developed for the 270-member Georgia PINES library consortium. By using open source, the participating libraries estimate that they will save more than $200,000 a year in software licensing costs. Carnegie head librarian Nancy Rosenwald said she believes the library will save at least $2,500 a year on software licensing. She said the library will also realize savings in book and other material acquisitions.

Carnegie will be among the first three libraries to move onto the system on May 28 with the remainder to be on-line by December. When the pilot group finishes migrating to the new system by the end of the year, SC LENDS will be the second-largest Evergreen consortium in North America. The consortium will serve a population of almost 1 million people in 10 counties and circulate more than 2 million items. Several additional library systems are considering joining the consortium.

Marsha Hathcock, Carnegie’s technology specialist, said that membership in the consortium will provide the library with access to a more “robust” library automation system that will greatly improve its operational efficiency. It will also allow the library to benefit from software customization at the other libraries at no additional cost.

This combination of additional materials and reduced costs made the system especially attractive to Mrs. Rosenwald. Cuts in state funding have forced the library to reduce the purchase of new books and other materials and may force it to reduce its operating hours. Mrs. Rosenwald said that while the system will not initially offset the loss of state funding, over the long run as more libraries join the consortium, it will make a difference.

“It will certainly cost us less in collection development, we can be much more specific about what we purchase,” she said. “This system will cut staff time by reducing the amount of time we have to devote to cataloging.

“It will make it much easier for patrons to get information on the books they’ve taken and put on hold,” she said. “Patrons will be able to monitor their own accounts, not only here at the library but from their homes and offices. So the time we spend with them will be more about their information needs rather than tracking a book.”