New Milford Library Director Visits 75 Libraries in 5 Days

Editor's Note: Information was provided by the New Milford Library.

It's a book lover's trip of a lifetime! 75 libraries in 5 days.  It seems like an impossible task, but that's what Terrie McColl, New Milford's library director and President of the Bergen County Library Cooperative (BCCLS) did to mark National Library Week, 2011, April 10th to 16th.

"Libraries are the heart of our communities," said McColl after her 365 mile sojourn throughout Bergen, Passaic, Essex and Hudson Counties.  "They serve the entire population of ours towns, from the very young all the way up to senior citizens."

McColl visited every one of the BCCLS-member libraries on her journey, and discovered both amazing similarities and differences.

"Each library fit its community like a glove," she said, "Yet whether large or small each library provides excellent service to their taxpayers."

McColl not only visited each library, she used her New Milford library card to check out an item from each as a way to show how libraries are already leading the way in saving taxpayer dollars through shared services.

"BCCLS libraries have been sharing resources for over 30 years, because of that my New Milford library card allowed me to borrow 75 items from 75 different libraries with a total retail value of $2,165.   That is a real savings to our taxpayers" McColl noted.

What's it like to visit all those libraries?  "It was a wonderful experience! I met so many caring and generous staff members and so many citizens who are passionate about the future of libraries in their communities," she said.

McColl says Governor Christie and other officials who are looking for ways to make government more efficient should take a cue from BCCLS and other libraries.

"Libraries have been providing valuable services at low cost to the community for a long time," McColl said. "Taxpayers get a real 'bang for their buck' from public libraries."