Pennsylvania: Three Lehigh Valley Area Libraries Integrate Collections, Launch Their Own ILL Delivery Service

From the Allentown Morning Call:
Called the Lehigh Valley Library System [Bethlehem Public Library, Allentown Public Library, Easton Public Library] it bypasses Access Pennsylvania, a statewide system that lets patrons borrow books from any member library.
Access Pennsylvania has a catalog of 22.2 million titles, including books, ebooks and periodicals. But under the system, requests are sent from whichever library responds first. That means a patron in the Lehigh Valley might have to wait until a book is mailed from Pittsburgh.
[Bethlehem Public Library’s Janet] Fricker, Easton’s Jennifer L. Stocker and Allentown’s Renee Haines have been meeting for a year to integrate their collections and align their borrowing policies.
Fricker said Access Pennsylvania “took longer” to get books into the hands of patrons.
Instead of mailing books across the state, the Lehigh Valley Library System will transport them each weekday in a van purchased with a $22,500 grant from the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation.
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In addition, the three libraries will still be part of Access Pennsylvania.
Read the Complete Article
See Also:  Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton library collections open for sharing (LehighValleyLive.com)

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