In May 1988, the District joined the Peninsula Library System (PLS) and approved a joint powers agreement that includes all city and county public libraries in San Mateo County. The primary objective of the District in joining PLS was to automate the libraries of each college, expand the library resources available to students and faculty, and benefit from other cooperative activities of the public libraries within the County. This decision continues to be extremely cost-effective and beneficial to the District and each of the three Colleges.
As authorized by the Board in April 1994, an agreement was executed with PLS which relocated the PLS library computer system, network, and their support staff to ITS. In this agreement, the District provides PLS office space for its technical staff, environmentally controlled floor space in the Computer Center, utilities, network, and technical support services, computer operations support, and management services.
The District continues to manage, maintain, and operate the PLS library circulation system and network environment. PLS, staff will continue to be responsible for the applications software, maintenance, and support of the Innovative Interfaces library information system and providing technical consulting assistance to the staff of PLS member libraries.