Missouri River and Daniel Boone regional libraries have changed how they offer electronic materials to patrons of each other's libraries.
Effective Oct. 1, neither will offer access to e-books or other electronic media to patrons who do not live in their own districts.
People who live in Cole and Osage counties support Missouri River Regional Library with their tax dollars - assessed at 20 cents per $100 of valuation. People who live in Boone and Callaway counties support Daniel Boone Regional Library - assessed at 30 cents per $100 valuation.
For years, because there was no library in Holts Summit, MRRL allowed residents in that area of Callaway County to use its services as if they were Cole or Osage County residents, said Natalie Newville, the library's marketing coordinator.
Most of the time, libraries have reciprocal agreements that allow one library's cardholder to access physical materials at another library. If there isn't a reciprocal agreement, patrons may have to pay fees.
Those agreements don't normally include electronic media. However, because Holts Summit was much closer to MRRL than branches of Daniel Boone Regional Library sites, residents in the area were allowed to access MRRL's electronic resources.
"We had a special agreement with Daniel Boone," Newville said. "Now that they've opened that branch in Holts Summit, we're not the closest library anymore."
The new branch library opened March 5 in Summit Plaza. It is open 20 hours per week.
The reciprocal agreement remains with DBRL but has converted to a standard agreement that doesn't include e-resources, Newville said.
Other libraries with which MRRL has reciprocal agreements are Mexico-Audrain County, Scenic Regional, Heartland Regional, Price James Memorial, Wood Place and Moniteau County libraries.