Tampa Bay Library Consortium (TBLC), with headquarters in Tampa, Florida, is a nonprofit library cooperative that assists hundreds of libraries in the Central and West Florida regions. TBLC serves public libraries, academic libraries, school libraries and special libraries. The TBLC membership serves 6.3 million people in the State of Florida. [1]
The mission statement for the TBLC is, "the TBLC is a community of libraries and the people who work in them committed to collaboration and bettering Floridians’ lives through continuously improving library services. TBLC supports this community’s success by providing essential services, connecting staff through active engagement, and creating an environment of continuous learning and innovation. [1] "
TBLC was established in 1979. [1] There are five multi-type library cooperatives throughout Florida serving all types of libraries (academic, public, special, and school). The other cooperatives are NEFLIN, PLAN, [2] SEFLIN, [3] and SWFLN. [4]
TBLC is headquartered in Tampa, Florida. It operates with full-time and part-time staff members. TBLC is administered by an executive director and an executive board with 13 members. [1] Board members are elected from member libraries.
TBLC serves over 100 members in 18 Florida counties. [5] These counties include: Citrus, Desoto, Glades, Hardee, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lake, Manatee, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota, and Saint Lucie. [1] TBLC membership includes academic libraries, special libraries, public libraries and school libraries. " [6]
The TBLC does not serve patrons directly. Instead, it provides services to member libraries that help them serve their patrons in a manner that is more creative, efficient, and more economically responsible than if the members were to operate individually. In 2005, TBLC offered a group purchase opportunity for member libraries and these libraries became some of the first in Florida to offer downloadable audio books to users. [8] TBLC operates the Ask a Librarian program which answers an average of 65,000 questions a year. Other services include continuing education, interlibrary loan material delivery, [9] video production, and e-book purchasing. [6]
Training & Workshops: TBLC offers training to its members through webinars and in-person workshops, blended learning courses and conference-style events with a regional focus on continuing education for its members.
Florida Delivery Service: Library members of FLIN are eligible to be a part of the Florida Library Delivery Service. Florida Delivery Service picks up and delivers interlibrary loan materials among 200 libraries throughout Florida. [10]
Florida Library Webinars: TBLC gives training to staff who works in Florida libraries in the belief of a well trained staff will serve its community to the fullest. [11]
Ask A Librarian: TBLC provides virtual reference service to Florida residents via chat and text messaging. This service began in 2003 and evolved to be a main stay and vital service for many Florida libraries. [12] [13]
Interlibrary loan is a service that enables patrons of one library to borrow materials that are held by another library.
Digital reference is a service by which a library reference service is conducted online, and the reference transaction is a computer-mediated communication. It is the remote, computer-mediated delivery of reference information provided by library professionals to users who cannot access or do not want face-to-face communication. Virtual reference service is most often an extension of a library's existing reference service program. The word "reference" in this context refers to the task of providing assistance to library users in finding information, answering questions, and otherwise fulfilling users’ information needs. Reference work often but not always involves using reference works, such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc. This form of reference work expands reference services from the physical reference desk to a "virtual" reference desk where the patron could be writing from home, work or a variety of other locations.
The State Library of North Carolina is an institution which serves North Carolina libraries, state government employees, genealogists, and the citizens of North Carolina. The library is the main depository for North Carolina state publications and serves the needs of North Carolina government agencies and state government employees by providing access to information resources that are vital to public decision-making and economic development.
The Florida Distance Library Learning Initiative (DLLI) is a statewide courier system used by over 200 libraries within the state of Florida. It is known for its distinctive orange courier bags.
NEFLIN, the Northeast Florida Library Information Network, is one of five non-profit library cooperatives committed to serving libraries throughout Florida.
The non-profit Colorado Library Consortium (CLiC) is a library-related organization.
ConnectNY (CNY) was a library consortium of New York State academic libraries and the Center for Research Libraries that lent and borrowed books from a shared catalog. Founded in 2003 with Mellon Foundation funding, CNY "support[ed] resource sharing and enhancement of services to users through programs in cooperative collecting, access to electronic resources and physical collections, and expedited interlibrary loan and document delivery." In 2010, CNY became an incorporated 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in New York State. At that time, CNY consisted of 15 libraries and 16 collections.
A library consortium is any cooperative association of libraries that coordinates resources and/or activities on behalf of its members, whether they are academic, public, school or special libraries, and/or information centers. Library consortia have been created to service specific regions or geographic areas, e.g., local, state, regional, national or international. Many libraries commonly belong to multiple consortia. The goal of a library consortium is to amplify the capabilities and effectiveness of its member libraries through collective action, including, but not limited to, print or electronic resource sharing, reducing costs through group purchases of resources, and hosting professional development opportunities. The “bedrock principle upon which consortia operate is that libraries can accomplish more together than alone.”
A distance education librarian or distance learning librarian is a specialized academic librarian whose primary duties involve serving the information needs of distance education students, faculty, and staff. This position typically involves coordinating the duties of many librarians and library staff to ensure adequate access to library resources for those who enroll in and teach distance education courses.
The Alice G. Smith Lecture, established in 1989, is sponsored by the University of South Florida School of Information. The lecture is an annual recognition of a scholar or author whose achievements have been instrumental in the development of librarianship or information studies. The lecture series honors the memory of the School's first director, Alice Gullen Smith, known for her work with youth and bibliotherapy. The Lecture Fund was created with the purpose of memorializing the work of Smith, who was central to the School's first accreditation by the American Library Association in 1975. Florida Library Association archivist, Bernadette Storck has provided an oral history of the development of libraries in Tampa, Florida that details the contributions of Smith including her establishment of the Tampa Book Fair that encouraged thousands of children to foster a love for books and reading
The Largo Public Library is a public library located in Largo, Florida, United States. Located next to Largo Central Park, it serves a community of over 75,000 residents.
The Tampa–Hillsborough County Public Library System (THPL) is a public library system based in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. It is part of two larger library networks, the Tampa Bay Library Consortium, and the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative, which includes Temple Terrace Public Library in Temple Terrace, and Bruton Memorial Library in Plant City. There are 33 branches of the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative.
The Pasco County Library Cooperative (PCLC) is the public library system that serves all residents of Pasco County, Florida, and is a member of the Tampa Bay Library Consortium. The Pasco County Library System, as it was originally known, was established by county ordinance in 1980.
Maria Chavez-Hernandez was an American librarian, educator, and advocate for information and library access for immigrant and underserved populations.
The St. Petersburg Library System is a free public library system for residents of the city of St. Petersburg, Florida, located in Pinellas County. The St. Petersburg Library System is part of the Pinellas Public Library Cooperative and consists of 7 branch locations.
The Clearwater Public Library System (CPLS) is a public library system with five branches that provides service to the citizens of Clearwater, Florida and Pinellas County. The library system was founded in 1911. It is a member of the Pinellas Public Library Cooperative.
Helen Virginia Stelle was the first director of the Tampa Free Library and one of the founders of the Florida Library Association.
Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois is an academic consortium of public and private university and research libraries in the state of Illinois.
The Boston Library Consortium (BLC) is a library consortium based in the Boston area with 26 member institutions across New England.
The Sarasota County Library System is the public library system that serves Sarasota County in the U.S. state of Florida. It consists of 10 locations, including a central library located in the city of Sarasota.
https://tblc.org/programsandservices/
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