One card easier: Catalog merge between libraries will increase effciency

A proposed catalog merge between the Orange County and Chapel Hill town library systems will make library use more convenient and efficient for Orange County residents.

Currently, residents who frequent both Orange County public libraries and Chapel Hill town libraries need two cards to check out books.

Residents of Orange County can use the Chapel Hill town library free of charge, and residents of Chapel Hill can use any Orange County library free of charge, but they still need separate cards for the different facilities.

Under the proposal, residents would have the ability to use catalogs from either library using only one card.

Kathleen Thompson, library director for the Chapel Hill public library, said the catalogs would not be “merged” per se, but rather the two systems would talk to one another.

Thompson said the change would make library use more convenient for both County and town citizens.

Any steps that cut back on needless red tape — especially for those who visit our libraries — are worthy of praise.

Even though we live in an electronic age in which information is readily accessible via Google and Wikipedia, libraries still serve an important societal function.

The more libraries one can visit using one card, the better.

Discussions are still under way, and officials are going to study the full implications of the proposal.

Hopefully it will get the go-ahead. After all, one card is better than two.