In April the New Jersey State Library made its first investment of CARES Act funding in support of a program to support on-line Summer Reading activities for 2020 and 2021. We want to let you know that this week all public libraries will be receiving separate messages on this listserv announcing each of two services being licensed statewide. 
 
These two contracts have been completed, with two additional contracts currently under review. We wanted to give you a heads-up that you may be contacted directly by vendors, and also that you will be receiving via this listserv forms to be filled out and returned to the vendors. In the case that a vendor is duplicative of a contract that you already have in place, the vendors have indicated that they will work with the library for an equitable arrangement. Our overall goal in investing in these services is to boost the ability of each of our public libraries to provide remote services to your patrons.
 
The products selected have been negotiated to be paid for through CARES Act funding distributed to NJSL through the Institute of Museum and Library Services. These funds are required to be utilized in accordance with the State Library’s IMLS 5-Year plan and are intended to assist New Jersey’s public libraries to recover from the initial wave of the pandemic, and to enhance their ability to be able to more effectively provide services to their communities during a subsequent round of COVID-19.   
 
Thank you for your patience as we strive to select services that will provide quality offerings for you and your customers. Stay tuned for upcoming announcements.
 
Mary L. Chute
State Librarian