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June 22, 2005

Convo Celebrates New Statewide Hub Library Network

Woodbridge Public Library Director John Hurley spoke on behalf of New Jersey’s municipal libraries at a June 20 press conference in Trenton announcing the expanded connectivity of the statewide Hub Library Network, Mayor Frank G. Pelzman has announced.

The network is a partnership between Verizon New Jersey and the New Jersey State Library to enhance and enlarge the hub library system that currently provides internet access to more than 300 public libraries across New Jersey.

“ Woodbridge has been in the forefront o f computer automation programs for several years,” says Mayor Pelzman, “and it has helped us serve our more than 200,000 annual library patrons more efficiently. Partnering with Verizon for this project has helped us achieve top-quality online service at less cost.”

The Woodbridge Main Library has been providing internet service since 1996. The Main Library and three branches are all connected by T-1 lines to each other and to the World Wide Web.

“Besides access to the Web, our libraries have the NetLibrary technology, Ask-a-Librarian service and the State Library’s JerseyClicks program,” says Hurley. “All of these online-based services have transformed the local library into a vibrant information center for scholarly research, business meetings and basic day-to-day queries people have about the weather, social services, medical matters and more.”

Hurley is president of INFOLINK , The Eastern New Jersey Regional Library Cooperative, and serves on the Members Council of the international library research foundation Online Computer Library Center. He has been an advocate for library automation since the early 1980s.

“The Woodbridge Public Library has always been a magnet for people who do serious research,” he notes “I can’t count the number of people who have told me that they used our library for most of their research needs in college.”

Verizon’s Access NJ program was launched in 1998 and represents the company’s commitment of more than $150 million to New Jersey schools and public libraries. For local New Jersey libraries, says Hurley, the benefit is clear. “The discount we get through Access NJ translates into more available funding to purchase the kinds of information resources the public needs and uses on a daily basis.”