People who like to use both the Nelson and Tasman libraries could be able to access both using a single card as early as mid-2013.

Tasman district libraries manager Glennis Coote said both libraries signed up to a libraries consortium named Kotui last year, which meant they both used the same software.

‘‘It does open up possibilities for us to investigate how to share more,’’ she said, saying a dual card was ‘‘the obvious choice’’.

Since the start of this year Glennis had been meeting Ian Littleworth, manager of Nelson city’s public libraries, about how the two facilities would approach solving technical and policy-related issues such as their different charge schemes.

She said they would present their proposal to both councils for approval once this discussion stage was completed, and did not anticipate any extra charges for library users.

Tasman district libraries also launched a new website last week, which lets library users access almost every service available without leaving home.

Glennis said library staff had been wanting to update the site for about two years now, as they had noticed more library visitors wanted to access services over the internet.

‘‘It’s the way the world is going, people live their lives online a lot more,’’ she said.

She estimated the last site upgrade was in 2006.

Glennis said new software made it much easier for library staff to add new content and changing the site around, so visitors could expect a much more dynamic site from now on.

‘‘A lot of the content there was a bit static because it wasn’t so easy for us to keep it updated,’’ she said of the old home page.

The front page of the new site had a ‘‘picture carousel’’, which ran through images and links to different parts of the website.

The ‘‘featured items’’ list below it was also new, highlighting a different selection of fiction, non-fiction, teen reads and internet-based resources each time the page was refreshed.

‘‘Every time somebody goes to that page, they’re going to see something different there,’’ said Glennis.

‘‘They see it, they like it, they can put in a request from home. The only thing they need to do is pick it up.’’

Other changes included a new ‘‘Frequently Asked Questions’’ section named ‘‘How Do I ... ’’ and upgrades to the heritage section.

The new website can be accessed at tasmanlibraries.govt.nz.

- © Fairfax NZ News