67 million items

Library cardholders at 17 Central Ohio library systems (including GHPL) will have access to 67 million items, thanks to a new partnership between an expanded Central Library Consortium (CLC) and two statewide networks.

The CLC Expands

The CLC, a cooperative among 14 Central Ohio library systems co-founded by GHPL in 1988, already offers more than 5 million items to 1.3 million residents across six counties.

The CLC will add three new member library systems in March 2018: Delaware County District Library, Granville Public Library, and Pataskala Public Library.

CLC member libraries:

• Alexandria Public Library
• Bexley Public Library
• Columbus Metropolitan Library
• Delaware County District Library (March 2018)
• Fairfield County District Library
• Grandview Heights Public Library
• Granville Public Library (March 2018)
• London Public Library
• Marysville Public Library
• Pataskala Public Library (March 2018)
• Pickaway County District Public Library
• Pickerington Public Library
• Plain City Public Library
• Southwest Public Libraries
• Wagnalls Memorial Library
• Upper Arlington Public Library
• Worthington Libraries

The CLC Partners with Two Statewide Networks

A new CLC partnership with statewide networks SearchOhio and OhioLINK provides 62 million additional items via a shared catalog.

For example, if the CLC does not have an item a cardholder is looking for, that item can be requested (if available) and delivered from a SearchOhio or OhioLINK library. Materials are delivered through a cost-effective statewide delivery network and are typically ready for pickup within a week.

The Grandview Heights Public Library (GHPL) is a founding member of the CLC and serves as the Administering Library for the CLC.

“Since 1988, the CLC has worked to provide communities with an outstanding return on investment by embracing collaboration and new technologies to offer the best service possible,” said GHPL Director Ryan McDonnell, who also serves as CLC Governing Council Chairperson.

SearchOhio is a statewide network of 42 public library systems offering more than 16 million items. SearchOhio members include: The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, the Westerville Public Library, and the Cuyahoga County Public Library.

“Ohio’s libraries have always embraced ways to share resources and better serve our customers,” said Erin Francoeur, Executive Director of the Westerville Public Library. “As one of the founding members of SearchOhio, we are excited for this opportunity to connect with our neighboring libraries and create an ever-more powerful tool that our customers can use to tackle life’s challenges.”

Established in 1992, OhioLINK (the Ohio Library and Information Network) is Ohio’s statewide academic library consortium of 120 academic libraries offering more than 46 million items. OhioLINK is partnered with SearchOhio as well.

“We are excited to able to offer our patrons access to an increased number of resources while at the same time allowing more Ohio citizens to access OhioLINK’s unique content through our partnership with SearchOhio,” said Amy Pawlowski, Deputy Director of OhioLINK.

NOTE: From March 2-7, some services will be unavailable from GHPL and other CLC member libraries, as new members are added to the consortium.