“This partnership is an absolute win for our students and colleges,” said Vice Chancellor Casey Sacks. “The libraries will have more resources than were previously available to students and those resources will cost less than the colleges were paying outside of the consortium.”

This partnership is between the West Virginia Library Commission (WVLC), and West Virginia’s community and technical colleges.

West Virginia’s community colleges will cut costs by sharing digital library resources, while expanding the tools available to students. When doing research, students will now have access to a plethora of digital books as well as research databases.

BridgeValley Community and Technical College’s Director of Library Services, Heather Lauer was a key proponent of this partnership, who worked from the ground up to push West Virginia’s community colleges forward. She said that it was a multi-agency team effort, each piece important to bringing about this new opportunity.

“This program is a national trend that will bring a lot of positive change to the community college system as we move forward,” said Lauer. “I want it to continue on and become even bigger than us and the other community colleges, so we can continue expanding student access and improve all of West Virginia higher education.”

Lauer said the partnership will save each of the community colleges roughly 32 percent on database costs just in the first year; at the same time assuring students that no matter which community college they choose they will have consistent and reliable access to information and digital resources.

In light of further budget cuts to higher education, community and technical colleges have to think outside the box in order to stretch funds without putting added financial pressure on students. The library partnership is a creative way for colleges to expand services while reducing costs.

The community and technical college system facilitated this partnership in order to further expand the resources available to students at West Virginia’s community colleges, giving students even more tools with which to learn and grow.