COLUMBUS-Polk County residents will now be able to check out materials from any library in the state after the county board of commissioners approved joining the NC Cardinal program.

 

Commissioners met Monday, Aug. 21 and heard from library director Rashara Finsel about the program.

 

Finsel said NC Cardinal is a program where participating libraries share resources. Any materials available in another NC Cardinal library in the state can be sent to Polk County Library. Also, Polk County library cardholders can use their Polk County Library card in other counties to check out materials.

 

The library received a grant from the State Library of North Carolina in order to participate.

 

Finsel said Polk County has one of the highest per capita checkout rates in the state.

She added that she is very excited about this program and it is also a good financial move for the county. The grant pays for migration and data costs as well as all the staff training. After the setup, the annual costs for the program will be less than the county is currently paying for its software.

 

Finsel said the county currently pays approximately $6,000 annually for its software and the NC Cardinal program is only $3,000 per year.

 

Commissioner Myron Yoder said he thinks it’s a good program and commissioner Ray Gasperson thanked Finsel and other staff for making this program possible.

 

What is NC Cardinal?

NC Cardinal is a consortium of public libraries in North Carolina dedicated to sharing resources and expanding opportunities through the use of a single online catalog.

 

NC Cardinal benefits

Your library card works at any participating library to:

Discover materials not owned by your library; borrow materials from any NC Cardinal library; renew materials; view your account and place holds online for items from any NC Cardinal library.

Materials ordered will be sent to your local library.

There are 161 locations throughout the state of North Carolina, with 40 participating counties, three municipalities, eight government libraries and 6.4 million library items.

The site can be accessed through nccardinal.org once Polk County is set up in the program. Buncombe and Henderson County libraries are also NC Cardinal members.