High-tech improvement at Beardsley

WINSTED — The Beardsley and Memorial Library has begun the process of installing a new state-of-the-art library automation software system after receiving the final funding needed to move forward with the project.

The Community Foundation of Northwest Connecticut recently awarded the library — which serves the towns of Winsted, Colebrook and Barkhamsted — $3,000 through its Eva M. Coty Fund to help finance the purchase of the Web-based program.

“This grant was the last of the funding needed to sign the contract,� library director Linda Senkus told The Journal Tuesday. “This is what we needed to get the software migration going.�

The new software — designed and published by TLC’s Library Solutions — will enable library patrons to create online accounts, renew materials, use social networking features such as list sharing and reader reviews, request books and other items, and allow parents to manage their children’s accounts from home.

It will also feature a more user-friendly search screen, as well as a more robust and powerful search engine database.

In addition, articles and content featured within magazines and books will now be searchable within the library’s catalog. Currently, patrons can only pull up the listing for a periodical or book, and not an inventory of the content within them.

“There are just so many things that we can’t do now but will be able to do with the new software,� Senkus said.

The total purchase price for the program is $50,000. That amount includes the purchase of the software itself, as well as memory upgrades required to run the program on the library’s computers and staff training.

Last August, the Danbury-based Praxair Foundation passed along a $35,000 grant to the library as part of its “Library Links� program, which was used to fund the lion’s share of the project.

To bridge the $15,000 gap, Senkus applied for supplemental funds from other nonprofit grant programs and the library’s fundraising committee ramped up its activity, seeking donations from local businesses and private residents.

No tax-payer money from any of the three towns was used for the purchase of the software.

“All the initial implementation costs were picked up by grants and donations,� Senkus said.

Senkus said with the tough economic climate and the limited funding available from the towns, the library would not be able to move forward on projects like this without the investment of public or private grants and donations from local businesses and individuals.

“I think it’s pretty incredible,� she said of the private donations the library received from local residents and businesses.

“It’s an exciting time,� she said.

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