Central Jersey Instructional Media Service

The Central Jersey Instructional Media Service originated in 1953 as the Somerset County Audio Visual Aids Commission under 18A:51 of the Education Statutes..  The Commission served all of the schools of Somerset County.  In 1994, due to rising costs and the impending retirement of their director, the Hunterdon County AVA Commission sought to merge with a neighboring county.  This was the birth of the Central Jersey Instructional Media Service.  CJIMS is a consortium of AVA Commissions.  Each commission is maintained and each has a say in budget, policies, and services.  Since its inception in 1994, CJIMS has grown considerably with the addition of Middlesex, Union, Mercer and Morris Counties.  This arrangement has kept costs for individual counties much lower and has increased the services that can be offered to our members.

In 1998, CJIMS was the first center in the nation to provide video streaming to its schools.  It has maintained some type of streaming or downloading service ever since.  In 2005 the EVAN (Educational Video Access Network) was started with ten AVA Centers participating.  EVAN has allowed us to increase the number of titles available online to our users without increasing the costs to provide the service.  EVAN currently provides approximately 10,000 video titles and 25,000 clips to its member schools through Learn360.com.  In addition, each center may purchase their own digital titles for placement on the network and for the exclusive use of their member schools.  CJIMS currently has over 1000 titles and 1800 video clips or "chapters" available to its members in addition to the base titles provided through Learn360. 

The primary service of CJIMS has always been the delivery of quality educational media in the form of videocassettes, DVDs, and Multi-media Kits.  Starlab portable planetariums were added to our services in 1996 and the center currently owns 4 planetariums to circulate to its member schools.  The center currently provides access to over 25,000 titles through its online booking system available to users 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

CJIMS also provides workshops in the use of all its services free of charge to member districts.