On July 24th, you and your patrons will notice an increase in the amount of cloudLibrary items. PRL and TRAC libraries have joined together to participate in cloudLinking. This new service, offered by Bibliotheca, will link our eBook catalogue and expands our digital collections.
While this is a very exciting opportunity made possible by library cooperation we understand there will be some questions and concerns.
How does it work? With the click of a button Bibliotheca will link TRAC and PRL collections. On July 11th we will have nearly 7000 items on our app and the next day that number will triple!
How does this affect our holds? PRL library patrons will always have priority for our items. However, when an ebook belonging to Parkland is sitting on the digital shelf, with no hold requests, it will be visible to both PRL patrons and TRAC patrons for checkout. When TRAC libraries have an ebook with no hold requests, our patrons will be able to check out TRAC’s item. Think of it as a digital interlibrary loan system.
How does this affect our budget? It doesn’t. PRL and TRAC will continue to purchase ebooks of the same caliber, and by sharing these resources our patrons will have greater selection because there will be more titles to choose from.
If you have questions about this expanded service, please contact your consultant.