Inverell Shire Library users are set to benefit from a $54,895 grant to upgrade the service’s outdated management system.
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Funded through the Public Library Infrastructure Grants Program, the new system will allow staff to do digitise the library’s entire collection.
Library manager Sonya Lange said a modern system will boost better customer service and improve the process of accessing the library’s catalogue.
“The second component to this grant will benefit the communities of Delungra and Yetman as we will be installing new computers at those locations,” she said.
The computers will allow customers to access online resources, the library’s catalogue and provide free internet access to students and job seekers.
Sonya said photographs and local history documents will be made available online, benefiting people locally and afar who may be researching family history.
“Local history is very popular and people are interested in researching their family history and this area. We get a lot of inquires from further afield,” she said.
Deputy mayor Anthony Michael said the new modernised system would improve efficiency and enable staff to be more productive.
“This grant will also benefit the communities of Delungra and Yetman greatly,” he said.
Member for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall was in Inverell on Tuesday to share the good news with staff.
He said the only way to check what was available in the library’s collection at current was to physically be inside the library.
“With the new system they will be digitising every item and uploading the whole collection on to the web so whether you live close or are someone like me who lives in Armidale, you can go online and search to see if it is available.
“I can see if its on loan or available and then either come in and pick it up or arrange to have it send out to me,” he said.