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Building on the existing collaboration between Hampden-Sydney College’s Bortz Library and the Central Virginia Regional Library (CVRL) system, Longwood University’s Greenwood Library will soon join the partnership and expand access to its collections for community members.

Library officials recently signed a memorandum of understanding creating the Southside Area Libraries Sharing Access (SALSA) consortium. 

According to the memorandum, SALSA’s mission is to “foster personal, economic, and community progress and prosperity by offering the citizens of central and Southside Virginia access to high-quality and diverse collections.”

“Community members are certainly welcome to come to Greenwood Library and get a card and browse,” said Brent Roberts, Longwood’s Library Dean. “But once we’re part of the system, people at any of the libraries can request materials from partner libraries and have them delivered via courier.”

Greenwood Library staff are currently training for the library system transition. The system is administered by technical services staff at Bortz Library. Courier services move materials between Bortz Library, and the Farmville and Buckingham branches of the CVRL system.

According to Bortz Library Director Shaunna Hunter: “We are happy that the partnership is expanding, and look forward to this connection with Longwood.”

CVRL Director Rick Ewing highlighted the convenience of three libraries sharing a catalog system.

“Since joining the system in September 2021, we have seen solid traffic of materials shared between CVRL and Hampden-Sydney. It will be great to have access to the resources at Longwood’s library at the click of a button,” Ewing said.

Greenwood Library is expected to be integrated into the shared library system in December 2022. For updates, visit http://library.longwood.edu.