The NGS circulating collection will be moved to the Special Collections Department at St. Louis County Library Headquarters, 1640 S. Lindbergh where it will be available to researchers by January 2002. In February of 2002, the NGS circulating book collection will become available for check out and Interlibrary Loan. While the St. Louis County Library will maintain its core genealogy collection as a non-circulating reference collection, the NGS collection will provide the local genealogical community with access to a significant and growing circulating collection of genealogical reference materials.

The addition of the NGS collection will provide an enhanced and expanded genealogy and local history collection. Combining the two unique and valuable collections in St. Louis will produce a superb resource library, attracting researchers from a variety of ethnic and geographic backgrounds. Both St. Louis County Library and NGS are committed to significantly growing the circulating collection so that genealogists have a dramatically larger number of books available to them. The County Library's expert Special Collections librarians and their experienced Interlibrary Loan staff make this partnership particularly strong.

On Wednesday, September 26, 2001, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved legislation to designate October as "Family History Month." In the words of Senator Orrin G. Hatch, the Utah Republican who introduced the Family History Month resolution: "By searching for our roots, we come closer together as a human family."

Transportation of the sizeable book collection from Virginia to Missouri was contributed by St. Louis-based United Van Lines and its president/chief executive officer, Robert J. Baer.

The ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled for Monday, January 28, 2002 at St. Louis County Library Headquarters. Further details will be announced later.