INDIANAPOLIS — At its regular meeting on April 25, the Indianapolis Public Library Board of Trustees unanimously approved a merger of the Beech Grove Public Library, effective June 1, 2016. The action follows a unanimous vote on April 12 by the Beech Grove Public Library Board of Trustees to support a merger with IndyPL and is based on recommendations of a Merger Planning Committee comprised of representatives from each entity.
The merger will give Beech Grove users access to more materials and services through the Indy Library collection than are currently available to them, including nearly 1.7 million physical items, 200,000 eBooks and digital audiobooks, and a wide variety of online databases. Additional offerings will allow access to digital magazines and streaming movies and music. Beech Grove cardholders will be able to receive notices on holds and overdue items via text and/or email, as well as renew materials via a smart phone and other mobile capabilities. New fiber optic Internet connections will greatly increase bandwidth and speed of public computers within the Beech Grove library. The merger also will afford Beech Grove residents of all ages greater programming opportunities.
Integration into the IndyPL system as its 24th public service location will continue for several months, as migration of the library catalog and other technical services are completed. During this time, Beech Grove patrons can continue to use their current library cards to check out materials, and through a long-standing reciprocal agreement cardholders in both library districts can continue to use each other’s facilities.
Four members of the Beech Grove Public Library Board of Trustees will join the current IndyPL Board to form an interim eleven-member board through 2016. Beyond 2016, tax revenues from the Beech Grove Library District will be assumed by the Indianapolis Public Library District, which includes all of Marion County except the town of Speedway.