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November 19, 2009

West Long Branch library to be dissolved, absorbed by county

App.com
By CAROL GORGA WILLIAMS • COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU • November 18, 2009

WEST LONG BRANCH — If all goes according to plan, the borough library will be dissolved and the Poplar Avenue facility's collections and services would be absorbed by the Monmouth County Library system by the start of 2010.

According to Kenneth Sheinbaum, Monmouth County Library System director, the changeover is set to occur by Jan. 4 and is aided by the fact that the borough library has long been a member of the county system, and now would become an official branch of the system.
"We're hopeful we will be able to open as a branch of the county library the Monday after New Year's," he said. "We're just not anticipating a whole lot of problems. The hours will change a little bit but not substantially."

Because the county and the borough library share automation and software, they already are ahead of the game, said Sheinbaum. Patrons either will keep their library cards which will be reidentified as county cards or be issued new ones, he said.

Voters decided earlier this month, by more than a 2-to-1 margin, that they favored the change, which local officials were pushing as a way to save taxes. Because of a fluke in the system, said Borough Councilman J. Thomas DeBruin, local taxpayers were actually paying twice for library services.

Opponents of the move, such as the West Long Branch Library Board of Trustees, had an alternative. They wanted to sever ties with Monmouth County and join LMxAC, or Libraries of Middlesex Automation Consortium, a group of 55 libraries with a far larger collection than the Monmouth County system. Long Branch, Red Bank and Matawan-Aberdeen public libraries already are members, Carol Herskowitz, vice president of the West Long Branch library board, had said.

While disappointed with the borough vote, Herskowitz said it appears to have been solely a financial issue.

"It was very conclusive, and it was all about money," said Herskowitz of the Nov. 3 vote. "That was the bottom line. We are looking for a smooth transition."
The board of trustees will meet tonight, its first meeting since the vote, to discuss its own future. It could end up as some sort of advisory board or friends group, said Herskowitz, noting other county branches have such affiliations.

Sheinbaum said the county currently is working to bring the borough library personnel on board. Some will continue to work in the borough, and some will be transferred to library headquarters in Manalapan. Once they become county employees, they also will be free to apply for other positions as they become available, he noted.

"We have to process all the staff," he said. "We will go in and remap their catalog and do what conversations they need to do and that is it."

Posted by tumulty at November 19, 2009 8:09 PM

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