Press Releases – Municipal Library Consortium of St. Louis County

10/1/2024

The Municipal Library Consortium of St. Louis Joins Missouri Evergreen Consortium, Enhancing Access to Resources

ST. LOUIS, MO— [October 1, 2024] — The Municipal Library Consortium of St. Louis County is excited to announce its joint membership in the Missouri Evergreen Consortium! This move will enhance the library services and the materials available to patrons within the nine vibrant communities of the MLC which includes Brentwood, Ferguson, Kirkwood, Maplewood, Richmond Heights, Rock Hill, Webster Groves, University City & Valley Park.

The MLC, made up of nine independent libraries across St. Louis, will each retain the local variety and individual roots of each of their community libraries while leveraging the vast resources offered by the MO Evergreen Consortium (MEC). The MEC is a statewide consortium made up of 70+ libraries across MO and growing. This dual affiliation promises to enrich the library experience for patrons by providing:

– A refreshed library catalog with enhanced search capabilities, making it easier to find exactly what you need at any MEC library.

– An intuitive mobile library app for convenient access to library services on the go.

– Expanded access to over 4 million items available across participating libraries in the Missouri Evergreen network, all shipped to your home library for free.

“We are thrilled to join the Missouri Evergreen Consortium,” said Christa Van Herreweghe Kirkwood Public Library Director, “Kirkwood Public Library patrons will love having access to millions of additional items.”

“We think our patrons will find the catalog to be more user friendly and more visually appealing,” said Madison Morris, Webster Groves Public Library Director.

The Missouri Evergreen Consortium is an innovative resource sharing consortium that offers a way for libraries across MO to expand their resources sustainably by connecting partner libraries with a much wider collection base and more extensive searching options with the catalog. Forward thinking and innovative partnerships, programs and opportunities for patrons lie at the heart of each MLC library’s mission. This new collaboration marks an exciting milestone in the pursuit of delivering exceptional library resources and services to the St. Louis community and beyond for many years to come.

This project is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the Missouri State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.

For more information about the Municipal Library Consortium of St. Louis, please visit https://www.mlc-stl.org and for the Missouri Evergreen Consortium, please visit https://moevergreenlibraries.org

About the Municipal Library Consortium of St. Louis

The Municipal Library Consortium of St. Louis is a network of nine public libraries in the St. Louis region dedicated to providing exceptional library services, community access and resources to its patrons. The consortium includes the Brentwood Public Library, Ferguson Municipal Public Library, Kirkwood Public Library, Maplewood Public Library, Richmond Heights Public Library, Rock Hill Public Library, University City Library, Valley Park Library & Webster Groves Public Library with a shared commitment to enriching the lives of its community library members through learning, resources and equal access for all.

About the Missouri Evergreen Consortium

The Missouri Evergreen Consortium is a collaborative library network that provides advanced library management solutions and a comprehensive catalog system to its member libraries. The consortium aims to improve library services across the state through innovative technology and shared resources.

This project is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act as administered by the Missouri State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.

9/1/2021

The Municipal Library Consortium of St. Louis County is pleased to announce it has been awarded an American Rescue Plant Act (ARPA) grant for $100,000. With these funds, the municipal libraries plan to convert their materials inventory and circulation control technology from barcodes to RFID (Radio-frequency identification) tags. RFID will allow the MLC libraries to provide a higher level of service to patrons through a better inventory of the collection and a more efficient check-out process. By implementing RFID technology, both patrons and library staff will benefit from increased efficiency and ease.

Implementing RFID also enables future possibilities for our libraries. We look forward to continuing to provide our communities with safe and comprehensive library services as the public health crisis continues.

7/19/2021

The Municipal Library Consortium of St. Louis County is pleased to announce it has been awarded an ARPA grant for $225,000. With these funds, the library will purchase ebooks, eaudiobooks, and emagazines to enrich our existing Overdrive collections. This generous grant will allow the libraries to keep up with the significantly increased demand for ematerials that we have seen since the stay at home orders of 2020.

With this project, the consortium libraries will create a legacy ematerials collection that will benefit our library patrons for many years to come. We look forward to continuing to provide our communities with safe and comprehensive library services as the public health crisis continues.

7/10/2020

The Webster Groves Public Library is pleased to announce it has been awarded a CARES grant for $17,000. With these funds, the library plans to provide online access to huge variety of magazines and periodicals. In the coming months, it may be difficult or dangerous for patrons to visit the physical library to check out paper periodicals. This is especially true for our most vulnerable populations.

With this new eMagazine subscription, we hope to give patrons a safe, easy avenue to enjoy thousands of magazines on a variety of subjects and in a variety of languages.

We look forward to continuing to provide our patrons with safe and comprehensive library services as the public health crisis continues.

7/5/2020

The Kirkwood Public Library is pleased to announce it has been awarded a CARES grant for $18,000. With these funds, the library plans to purchase hotspots and staff equipment that will enable expanded library outreach services to senior living facilities. In the coming months, it will be may be difficult or dangerous for our patrons to visit the physical library to check out materials and use our resources. This is especially true for our most vulnerable populations.

With this project, we hope to give patrons a safe, easy avenue to enjoy the library from a safer distance.

We look forward to continuing to provide our patrons with safe and comprehensive library services as the public health crisis continues.

7/10/2020

The Richmond Heights Memorial Library is pleased to announce it has been awarded a CARES grant for $12,000. With these funds, the library will build upon our existing ebook and eaudio collection on the Overdrive platform. For the foreseeable future, it will be significantly safer and easier for patrons to borrow and enjoy e-resources in lieu of physical books. This generous grant will allow the library to keep up with the significantly increased demand for ematerials that we have seen since the stay at home orders in mid-March.

The library is eager to provide safe and comprehensive access to as many materials as possible in these challenging times.

7/17/2020

Rock Hill Public Library has been awarded $8,531 from the CARES Grant. The money will be used to purchase new laptops and Chromebooks. These devices will be available for checkout inside the library to encourage social distancing upon reopening. This acquisition could potentially lead to circulation of devices outside the library.