Following the vote of the CMRLS Council of Members to accept the Plan of Service for FY ‘05, plans are being made to close the Fitchburg AV Center at the end of this fiscal year.

As sketched in discussions held during the summer of 2003, portions of the collections will be offered to CMRLS member libraries that make them available for resource sharing with other libraries through 1) C/W MARS or 2) other web-based catalogs. Fitchburg will retain books on cassette and CD as well as VHS and DVD materials that are not considered "popular." CMRLS will move deposits and professional development material to Headquarters. The status of the Audible contract (books on MP3) will be investigated to learn whether it can be moved to CMRLS.

Reduction of the VHS collection will begin immediately. Other formats will follow.

Members may notice that materials they have recently identified in the catalog are removed from the collection and may no longer be available for loan.