Essex Conservatives have announced that Essex Libraries will join The Libraries Consortium (TLC), the UK’s largest library consortium made up of 18 other library authorities.

As part of the Essex Libraries Consultation in 2019, respondents told us they wanted an increase in the number of titles available to borrow from Essex Libraries. By joining the consortium, Essex residents will have access to over 6 million items of stock via the shared TLC library catalogue, including books, e-books, e-magazines and audio books. This will be in addition to the current 1.9 million titles Essex Libraries already has available. 

Joining the consortium means an upgrade of the existing library management system (LMS) which will be managed by SirsiDynix. The new LMS system will provide an enriched, modern and interactive library customer experience such as access to the service 24/7 on any mobile device, and customer alerts and text messages. It will be a single digital platform, enabling customers to engage with other library users, post reviews, book events, follow their favourite authors, and make recommendations.

Cllr Susan Barker, Cabinet Member for Customer, Corporate, Culture and Communities, said: “This is a great opportunity for us and will mean library users will now have almost 8 million books available to them. Our residents asked for more stock, this is what we are giving them. This, alongside our new Library Management System will offer our Library users an improved and even more flexible service.”

Barbara Pacut, Vice President of Sales at SirsiDynix, said: “The TLC has given us a great opportunity to build library technology for the future. We’re delighted that Essex Libraries have joined in this partnership and look forward to delivering a great experience for all TLC members using our platform.”

For more information on opening times, and new developments at Essex Libraries please visit: https://libraries.essex.gov.uk/.