Published:
New and expanding library services
Scan on Demand Extended to Undergraduates
The Library's Scan on Demand Service was launched as a pilot in the Fall of 2020 with faculty and graduate students serving as initial cohorts during the trial period. Following a review of service volume, and feedback from users, the Library expanded the service to include Undergraduates as of May 3rd, 2021.
Enhanced Delivery for Electronic Items
In collaboration with Ontario universities, the Laurier Library recently completed enhancements to our interlibrary loan system designed to improve delivery speed for scans of book chapters and journal articles within 24 hours. The new feature, which is fully integrated into the Omni search interface, provides users with the ability to self-initiate requests for digital copies of print book chapters or journal articles which are not held in the Laurier collection. Requests are automatically directed to a network of national and international library partners, effectively increasing the pool of delivery sources, and decreasing delivery times. To ensure service efficiency, scan requests will be delivered to users via email, for immediate access via an authenticated link.
Ontario-wide Requesting Through Omni
When Omni went live in December of 2019, the Laurier, the University of Waterloo and the University of Guelph libraries were the first ones to implement a rapid material sharing service; mirroring what had existed in the previous Tri-University-Group (TUG) -based library system. During the spring and summer of 2021, The Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL) established a goal to expand this service to include additional schools: Algoma, Brock, Carleton, Lakehead, Laurentian, Nipissing/Canadore, OntarioTech, Ottawa, Queen's, Trent, Western, Laurier, Windsor, and York. As a result of this initiative, we’re pleased to announce that, as of August 3rd, 2021, Laurier students, faculty and staff can now use Omni to quickly and easily request shared print resources from across all 16 Omni partner institutions, a collection of nearly 23.5 million resources.
A search in Omni automatically finds the item at one of our 16 partner libraries, who will then send it to Laurier, as it operated within TUG. You will be notified when your item is ready for pickup and you will enjoy the same 120-day loan period, the same as if you were borrowing a Laurier item. The Laurier, the University of Guelph and the University of Waterloo will continue to operate a delivery van services between our institutions as it worked with TUG. Given that we are still working within COVID-19 limitations, the delivery time with the existing University of Guelph and the University of Waterloo group is estimated to be 2-3 business days, while delivery times from the new Omni partner universities are anticipated to average 7 to 10 business days. Our goal is to reduce this delivery time as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted and partner library operations return to normal.