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Sunshine card lets users borrow from 5 libraries of multiple types

gina.persichini's picture
2009 06 Aug

Thanks to my friends at the Blah Blah Blah Blog at NEFLIN, I found this article in the Sun Sentinal (FL) about the Sunshine Card.

Five libraries launched the program allowing users to check out materials at any of the participating libraries and their branches. The participants include a university, a community college, 2 public library systems, and a school district.

From the article,

With so many items available in each library's collection, there is little concern about overlapping demand for any one source. Academic texts tend to elaborate on very specific topics, and public libraries order multiple copies of popular books.

and

FAU student and library patron Seth Christy, 27, likes the idea of having more books and other materials available. "The more easily accessible it is, the more educated people can get," he said.
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    Anonymous's picture

    and what about electronic resources

    Will people get to use databases, ebooks, etc. at all locations? I imagine that would be too much to hope for but I can dream. Glenna, Boise Public

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    Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 08/07/2009 - 2:42pm.
    gina.persichini's picture

    Glenna, Good questions. I

    Glenna, Good questions. I checked the programs website (www.seflin.org/sunshinecard) and it states one of the goals as:J

    "Minimize restrictions on the use of their library resources, while recognizing the nature of the resources, the existence of licensing and use agreements imposed on the resources, and the mission of each participating library"

    The mention of licensing and use agreements leads me to think that some of a library's database resources likely aren't available to all due to licensing restrictions. however, like Idaho, Florida has a statewide database program, Florida eLibrary, that all the users would have access to regardless of any reciprocal borrowing agreements.

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    Submitted by gina.persichini on Mon, 08/17/2009 - 9:59am.
    Anonymous's picture

    Courier

    In a LibIdaho email you mentioned this program might cut down on ILL postage costs. Will the five libraries be running a courier service (like the one we have here), or will patrons need to go to the owning library to obtain an item?

    Do you know if there have ever been any thoughts of including BSU or other local colleges in the Lynx! consortium? When I first started working at a public library after college, I was astonished at the lack of academic materials. And while much of this material wouldn't be of huge interest to many of our patrons, we do seem to receive a fair amount of ILLs from BSU.

    Thanks for posting this! Great food for thought.

    Kate Radford
    Silverstone Branch

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    Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 09/21/2009 - 9:56am.