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Collaborative Library Card Project

  • Published
  • By McGuire Library
  • McGuire Library
MCGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, NJ. --  In 1995, the Secretary of the Air Force Sheila E. Widnall and the Air Force Chief of Staff General Ronald R. Fogleman approved the following core values for the United States Air Force: Integrity first, service before self and excellence in all we do. Recently, the McGuire Library formed a library collaborative to ensure that all its patrons are served with those same fine values. 

On Sunday, the McGuire Library began a partnership with Burlington County College and Burlington County Library to offer library card registration and materials delivery from both those facilities to the McGuire Library. McGuire Library recognized the need for mobility of materials and services for the base community, and focused on the transportation and availability issues of TDY and deployment. 

"Our patrons need a 'one-stop-shop' experience at the library," commented a staff member. "It can be difficult, even impossible for our families to drive off base, find the other libraries, and work within the hours of operation of two other libraries." 

Anyone who is stationed at or living at McGuire or Fort Dix is eligible for a library card from both the county library and the college library. The partnership agreement works very simply. 

1. McGuire patrons can register for all three library cards -- McGuire, Burlington County College, and Burlington County Library -- at the same time at the McGuire Library Circulation desk. 

2. Once the library cards are received by the patrons, they can access all three websites, and request books to be sent to McGuire for patron pickup. 

The McGuire Library staff has coordinated a Tuesday and Friday pickup at both facilities and will bring all requested materials to the McGuire circulation desk. Patrons will also be able to return materials from the college and county libraries to the McGuire Library. 

This collaborative allows our patrons free access to more than a million holdings without leaving the base. An additional advantage is the access to another 100 databases, including the Rosetta Stone, CLEP & Dantes re-tests, Nanotechnology databases, Lexis law journals, and Nexis nursing articles. 

Integrity comes first at the McGuire Library. We strive to offer authoritative and qualitative resources. 

The staff certainly puts service before self. They will add the responsibility of bi-weekly pickup to their job tasks. 

And forming this collaborative to provide community resources sharing and offer better service to their patrons is their role of excellence in all we do, here at the library.