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Smyrna Public Library in Georgia blazes its own trail. From its inception in 1936 as a single shelf of donated books in the Smyrna Women’s Club, to the construction of the first stand-alone library in 1961, to opening a showcase 28,000-square-foot facility that now hosts a quarter of a million visits per year, Smyrna Public Library supports a growing, diverse suburban community of over 50,000 people who expect high-quality, individualized library service.

Funded by Smyrna’s city government with support from the impressively active Friends of Smyrna Library group, the library’s mission extends far beyond being a repository for more than 130,000 books, movies, CDs, documents, and digital downloads. Smyrna Public Library prides itself on being a well-rounded educational resource that enlightens and entertains the community it serves. For example, the library recently hosted Explore Earth: Our Changing Planet, a traveling hands-on exhibition for libraries that featured everything from live bats to science projects with Santa.

Since 2008, Smyrna Public Library has relied on The Library Corporation’s Library•Solution® integrated library system to deliver robust and responsive automation services to staff and patrons. It’s a match made in heaven, really. Just as Smyrna Public Library maintains its independent spirit, TLC stands alone in today’s climate of vendor mergers and acquisitions by holding steadfast as a family owned and operated company committed to providing premier ILS, cataloging, and data services to libraries worldwide. TLC is proud of its ongoing partnership with Smyrna Public Library and looks forward to supporting its service mission for many years to come.

Oil isn’t the only prized commodity in Midland, Texas. Since 1903, the city and its surrounding county have been graced by Midland County Public Library and its commitment to lifelong learning.

The library system is dedicated to making Midland a better place by providing information access to everyone. That vision is most obvious in the American Library Association and International Interior Design Association’s award-winning Centennial Library location, where technology and multimedia displays meld with forward-thinking initiatives including an open-access audio and video recording studio museum-quality exhibits, live music performances, an artist-in-residence program, a fineless borrowing system, and much more. The Texas Library Association recognized the multitude of innovations by naming Midland County Public Library Director John Trischitti III its 2014 Librarian of the Year.

Midland County Public Library circulates nearly half a million items per year, and its partnership with West Texas Digital Library ensures that eBooks and other downloadable titles are readily available for the estimated 295,000 Midlanders in its service area. The library also provides Internet access to all residents and visitors, regardless of whether they have a library card.

The Library Corporation is honored to support Midland’s unique outreach efforts with the Library•Solution® integrated library system. TLC’s devotion to customer support and ongoing product development ensures that Midland County Public Library has the freedom to embrace new technologies as it explores new and exciting ways to serve its community.

Nestled along the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico in southern Louisiana lies Terrebonne Parish, so named by early French settlers for the “good earth” that allowed them to thrive. Today, more than 110,000 people call this socially diverse region home, and Terrebonne Parish Library System is tasked with serving the information and entertainment needs of a parish that has been at the heart of Cajun culture for 300 years.

Founded in 1929 by a social club that invited people to borrow its 428 donated books, Terrebonne Parish Library System now has nine locations and an average annual circulation of nearly 400,000 books, CDs, and digital downloads. Genealogical and computer classes are at the forefront of more than 2,900 library programs and activities offered year-round to the parish’s children, teens, and adults. The bustling and dynamic library system also features 145 public computers, innovative workshops ranging from movie making to Lego Robotics, and a 3-D printer scheduled to debut this year. Its impressive achievements haven’t gone unnoticed. Terrebonne Parish Library System – the first library in Louisiana to offer drive-through service, and the state’s only library with an amphitheater – won the Public Library Association’s 2014 Innovation Award and was a finalist for the Institute of Museums and Libraries’ 2013 National Medal.

Since 2000, Terrebonne Parish Library System has relied on The Library Corporation’s Library•Solution ILS to serve its staff and borrowers. TLC delivers premier automation and cataloging solutions to keep libraries at the leading edge of community service, regardless of whether borrowers are scanning shelves for a classic novel or going online to download the latest bestseller.

TLC salutes Terrebonne Parish Library System and is honored to support it with the Library•Solution automation system.

They say the best gifts are those that keep on giving. Nowhere is that old adage more true than in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where the Pine Bluff/Jefferson County Library System has provided outstanding services to this diverse community of 75,000 people since 1913.

Many people in Pine Bluff/Jefferson County Library System’s service area are financially challenged, so the library delivers myriad enrichment opportunities to residents eager to better themselves. An extensive collection of books, e-books, audiobooks, and digital music are augmented by numerous attributes including free Wi-Fi and computers for public use, interactive learning software for emerging readers, an extensive genealogy collection, employment and resume services, and test proctoring for homeschool and college students, as well as professionals who need to take a monitored licensing exam.

The Library Corporation is proud to support Pine Bluff/Jefferson County Library System’s community-building mission. TLC’s Library•Solution automation software was implemented two years ago in the system’s five locations, giving borrowers a sophisticated set of tools to explore the stacks and discover the latest digital downloads. This year, Pine Bluff/Jefferson County Library System became the first public library in the nation to take advantage of TLC’s partnership with SocialFlow, a social media management and optimization service that has invigorated the library’s interactions with its growing audience on Facebook and Twitter.

TLC salutes Director Michael Sawyer and the staff and volunteers at Pine Bluff/Jefferson County Library System, and is honored that Library•Solution and SocialFlow are helping to expose the unlimited potential of this exciting community.

Lewistown, Pa., is home to “the little library that could.” Mifflin County Library is a jewel in this rural community, serving residents with innovative ideas and emerging technology. There are iPad stations throughout the library’s two locations, and those tablets connect children with faraway relatives and local families who are unable to come to the library via Skype during story times. Mifflin County Library is a warm, welcoming place, a shining example of how a library can get maximum return from a small staff and limited budget. Things weren’t always so rosy. When Dr. Molly Kinney came on board as executive director in January 2013, Mifflin County Library had $36 in the bank and a stack of bills that needed to be paid. There was no broadband Internet, and the existing technology plan was as outdated as the library’s computers. The dedicated staff and board members knew their library could be an excellent provider of education and information, but nothing could be done until they bolstered the technology and bank account.

Mifflin County Library became one of the first in the nation to utilize the Edge Initiative, a unique management and leadership tool that helps libraries evaluate their technology services and create improvement plans. Mifflin County’s assessment generated 134 recommendations that could be implemented in three phases. The Edge action plan became an aggressive strategy that streamlined operations and replenished library coffers with generous donations from individuals, civic groups, and the local government.

Mifflin County Library also needed to update its Library•Solution ILS that had been chugging along since 1998. The Library Corporation migrated its automation software to hosted servers, giving Mifflin County the latest version of Library•Solution plus customized online catalogs that integrate seamlessly into the library’s revitalized Web site.

Following the rainbow to the children’s library has been a tradition since the Mifflin County Library building was constructed in 1973, when current Children’s Librarian Susan Miriello was a young patron. When the hallway was repainted, they wanted to do something special; something to show patrons that the Mifflin County Library is THEIR library, the community’s library, and that even with financial struggles, their library would still be here. The rainbow includes 697 handprints of children and adults, board members, staff, adults who attended story time when they were children, and even babies just a few months old.

While there is still much work to be done, Mifflin County Library has made staggering improvements in just two-and-a-half years. TLC is honored to be part of its inspiring story.

There’s a place in southern Arkansas where you can create picture frames and table coasters, get inside information from a high-ranking official with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, enjoy a movie or magic show with the family, and download more than 50,000 free e-books to your tablet. That place is the Southeast Arkansas Regional Library, which encompasses nine branches in five counties and serves nearly 80,000 local residents.

Southeast Arkansas Regional Library may not be the biggest in the country, but its heart is huge. Just last year, the system reconfirmed its decades-long commitment to the community by opening a strikingly beautiful new branch in Monticello that includes 30 computers for public use; thousands of books, CDs, DVDs, and periodicals for check out; dedicated rooms for meetings and genealogy research; even a “secret garden” where borrowers can read and relax. Citizens and staff have great love for Southeast Arkansas Regional Library, and it shows.

The Library Corporation shares this passion and is pleased to serve Southeast Arkansas Regional Library with its Library•Solution automation system. The partnership began in 2004 and continues strong as TLC’s software and services grow with the library system to better serve the citizens of Bradley, Chicot, Desha, Drew and Lincoln counties. TLC salutes Southeast Arkansas Regional Library and is proud to support it with the Library•Solution integrated library system.

Samuels Public Library lives in the heart of the community it serves, bringing people, organizations, information, and ideas together. Located in the town of Front Royal at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains and near the convergence of the two forks of the Shenandoah River, Samuels Public Library can trace its roots to 1799 when the Front Royal Librarian Society earned its charter and became the second subscription library in the commonwealth of Virginia. The library persevered through wars and the Great Depression until, in 1952, Dr. Bernard Samuels donated a building to the society and the library changed its name to Samuels Public Library.

Since then, the library has continued to grow and expand in order to best serve the citizens of Warren County. In 1976, Dr. Samuels’ brother, Walter, left a bequest to the library that allowed it to move into a new facility. Evolving technologies prompted another move in 2009, this time to a new, modern building that accommodates more than 151,000 print and digital items, 42 computers for public use, meeting and conference rooms. Most recently, the love for Samuels that runs so deep in this community was best exemplified by the generous gift of Mrs. Norman Upchurch to create a spectacular children’s garden (pictured above) inspiring individuals, clubs, organizations, and businesses to donate funds, plants, time and sweat equity to bring her vision to life! Last year, 19,461 people – more than half the population of Warren County – attended programs at Samuels Public Library, which won the 2015 Nonprofit of the Year Award from the Front Royal/Warren County Chamber of Commerce.

Samuels Public Library implemented The Library Corporation’s Library•Solution automation system two years ago to streamline day-to-day operations and give its more than 24,000 card-holding patrons powerful, customized tools to explore the library’s rich catalog. TLC is proud to partner with Samuels Public Library as it continues its community-building mission in the scenic Shenandoah Valley

Oklahoma County’s Metropolitan Library System is proud to offer first class customer service. With 19 locations throughout the greater Oklahoma City area, customers have access to materials, reference services, cultural and educational events, and world class entertainment in the convenience of their own neighborhood.

“The Metropolitan Library System is well-known in the ranks of public libraries and is nationally recognized as being on the forefront of library services and technology,” says Tim Rogers, the new Executive Director of the library system.

Partnerships with local schools and sponsors allow MLS to make a big impact in the community. The library is actively involved in local schools and after-school care locations with programs like Come Read with Me, school visits, and special field trip visits to libraries. Many local schools make a MLS library their home library.

This year marks the 50th year of serving the community as a library system. The Metropolitan Library System continues to change, expand, and improve services, buildings, and technology, all with one goal in mind: meeting the needs of customers. It is a place to explore. It is a place to connect. It is a place to build. It is an inviting, innovative link to the world!

TLC salutes Metropolitan Library System and is proud to support this great library with its CARL•X automation system.

The world knows Hawaii as a tropical paradise, but for a select few, it’s home. As the nation’s only statewide public education system, the Hawaii State Department of Education is committed to leveraging the latest technologies to meet the needs of students in the 255 public schools spread across eight main islands.

In a climate of austerity and collaboration amongst school library media programs, School Library Services launched a statewide shared ebook collection. Leveraging the deep and seamless integration of Library•Solution for Schools system will make the discovery and accessibility to the extensive collection of fiction and nonfiction ebooks, audiobooks and embedded audio books available 24/7 for academic and personal reading pursuits.

The Hawaii State Department of Education will rely on Library•Solution for Schools to integrate with an array of curated K12 electronic databases and bring equitable access of national and global resources to the fingertips of students. These resources promote information literacy and the Hawaii Common Core standards through search skills, close reading of age appropriate text complexity, ethical use of technology and citation of digital resources.

The school library media programs support and enhance the curricula of every classroom and extend access to resources beyond library walls. Each school library media program prides itself on promoting active learning and curating educational and enrichment materials that foster a love of reading and develop a new generation of successful and contributing global citizens.

Aligned to their school’s goals, Leilehua High School librarians Jenny Yamamoto and Yvonne Lau are re-imagining the library as a learning commons space focused on three words: Relevant, Supported, and Self-Reliant. A revamped library space includes two group study rooms, in-library laptop checkouts, a comfortable reading area, a tech help desk and technology in each alcove to support students in the digital age.

Focusing on developing strong research skills, Aina Haina Elementary librarian Shelley Lau collaboratively works with teachers on the Student Showcase, a fifth grade culminating research project around the central theme, “Our choices define who we become.” Designed to apply information literacy, oral communication and teamwork skills, the project allows students to synthesize information gathered from print, online sources, and interviews towards a variety of self-selected research topics such as bullying, caring for the environment, peer pressure, and spending money wisely. Using online collaborative suites, students asynchronously share their findings with the larger Aina Haina community.

TLC celebrates the work of Hawaii State Department of Education’s school libraries and is proud to support their mission with the Library•Solution for Schools automation system.