Contact: Allison Matthews
Bottom photo: Stephen Cunetto, MSU Libraries administrator of systems; MSU President Mark Keenum; Rhonda Porter, Mid-Mississippi Regional Library System trustee; Richard Greene, executive director of Mid-Mississippi Regional Library System; and Frances Coleman, dean of MSU Libraries.
STARKVILLE, Miss.--The Golden Triangle Regional Library Consortium hit a growth spurt this week with the addition of two library systems representing 17 individual libraries.
Led by Mississippi State University's Mitchell Memorial Library, the organization welcomed the Mid-Mississippi Regional and Columbus-Lowndes Public library systems. There now are 40 members.
Mid-Mississippi serves Attala, Holmes, Leake, Montgomery, and Winston counties, while Columbus-Lowndes manages collections for the communities of Columbus, Artesia, Crawford, and Caledonia.
"Being a member of the GTRLC means that we can bring a world of information to the citizens of Lowndes County," said Alice Shands, Columbus-Lowndes' director.
"No longer are Lowndes County citizens limited to only the informational resources we can afford to purchase," she added. "Membership in the GTRLC provides an exponential increase in the amount of information our patrons may now access."
During a March 7 contract signing on campus, MSU President Mark E. Keenum thanked the system directors and board members for their confidence in the MSU Libraries and for their commitment to provide the best possible service and resources to their patrons.
The university's library system handles the consortium's training and ongoing development and support.
Stephen Cunetto, MSU Libraries' administrator of systems, also welcomed the expansion.
"With these additions, the consortium, the only one of its kind in the state, now includes 40 libraries, including academics, publics and school libraries," Cunetto said. (For a complete list, visit http://library.msstate.edu/GTRLC.)
Cunetto said the consortium continues to build on the successful venture begun in 1993 between charter members MSU and Mississippi University for Women in Columbus.
Established as a means to share resources and technical expertise, the GTRLC has a mission of providing a central database that customers can use to access resources available throughout the Golden Triangle Region, Cunetto said.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For more information, contact Lyle Tate at
662-325-2559 or ltate@library.msstate.edu.