With the first full year of a consortium between the Jaffrey Public Library, the Ingalls Memorial Library in Rindge and the Frost Free Library in Marlborough under their belt, directors say the partnership is more important than ever as the state library, along with other executive branch agencies, remains under a hiring freeze.
In July 2024, the Jaffrey and Rindge libraries announced a new partnership under which they would share materials, allowing members to walk into either library and use their cards to check out items. The library directors also make daily trips to deliver items reserved by patrons of other libraries, creating a near-instant inter-library loan system between the partners.
The consortium expanded in November to include the Marlborough library.
Jaffrey Library Director Julie Perrin said that in the last calendar year, the three libraries have shared over 4,300 items.
Jaffrey, which has the largest collection of the three, was often the lender, but Perrin said having access to three libraries helped reduce wait times for Jaffrey patrons, particularly for new titles.
Perrin said that circumstances beyond the local library’s control have affected access to books. One of those circumstances was the closure of Baker & Taylor, a major library book distributor. Many libraries transitioned to the other major distributor, Ingram Content Group, which the Jaffrey Public Library was already using, Perrin said. The influx of new libraries using Ingram has caused delivery delays.
Another issue is the executive branch hiring freeze, which includes a freeze on the state library, which has open positions, said Perrin. This has reduced the state’s inter-library loan availability.
“There have been a lot of inter-library loan van cancellations,” Perrin said. “What was a twice-a-week delivery is now once a week, and there have been multiple weeks where we didn’t get a delivery at all.”
Perrin said that in those circumstances, having access to other collections has been a boon.
Donna Straitiff, the director of the Ingalls Memorial Library, said the partnership has remained a “win-win” for all the libraries involved.
“I think it’s going to continue to be an issue for all of us,” said Straitiff, about the state hiring freeze. “In the meantime, these small-town consortiums are a good solution.”
Straitiff said in the past year, the Rindge library has lent 854 items to Jaffrey patrons, and 67 to Marlborough patrons. She said many Rindge library members work in Jaffrey, and like the convenience of attending the library in person, while Jaffrey and Marlborough members more often request items from Rindge’s online catalogue and have it delivered to their home library. She said both models have worked.
“Sometimes you do these things, and you don’t know yet if it’ll be beneficial — this is,” said Straitiff. “I think growing these regional consortiums will continue to help libraries.”
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.