Established 1979 Branches 77 Circulation 11.2 million (2013) | Location Northern New Jersey Size 5,000,000 Population served 1.2 million | |
The Bergen County Cooperative Library System (BCCLS) is a consortium of public libraries in the four northeastern New Jersey Gateway Region counties of Bergen, Hudson, Passaic, and Essex. Founded in 1979, the organization allows for reciprocal borrowing among its members so that books, audiobooks, CDs, DVDs and other media are shared among the libraries cooperatively. Those with a valid library card from participating towns are permitted to reserve materials online and have them transferred to their local library, where materials can be retrieved.
In 2015, there were 77 public libraries with a total of 81 branches participating in the consortium. All of Bergen County’s public libraries are members of the Bergen County Cooperative Library System along with 15 libraries from Essex, Hudson, and Passaic. A patron’s hometown library card is honored at all participating libraries. The BCCLS had also participated in the Open Borrowing (www.openborrowing.org) program, with participating libraries in Middlesex, Morris, Passaic, Sussex and Warren counties; this participation ended on January 1, 2015.