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Oregon The Pioneer Library System was established in 1993 with funds granted by the Oregon State Library. Currently, seventy school, community college, public, and university libraries spread across ten counties in eastern Oregon are connected via the Pioneer Library System. In the spirit of collaboration and resource sharing is the universal borrowing privileges that exist throughout the Pioneer Library System. Any patron from any consortium library can borrow materials from another library, either through patron requesting, staff placed holds, or Interlibrary Loan. The Pioneer Library System has been instrumental in bringing automation to smaller rural libraries that would otherwise have no funding for such an endeavor. Because this is the library’s first automation system, Millennium represents a major, yet very welcome, change in the Harney County Library’s day-to-day operations. Patrons no longer have to deal with a cumbersome card catalog. Instead, they can use the Pioneer Library System’s Web OPAC, which also lists the item status and location. The Pioneer System is not only a boon to patrons, but to staff at member libraries as well. Jolyn Wynn, County Librarian of the Harney County Library mentioned, “We have had a continual problem with overdue and lost books. The old system has always been managed by hand and takes a huge chunk of time. Now the computer can notify patrons of overdue books and calculate fines.” Staff at member libraries are reaping the results of mentoring, knowledge exchange, and problem solving through monthly meetings of circulation and cataloging workgroups, the Pioneer Library System Web site, and the consortium’s listserv.
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American Museum of Natural History |
