Library of the Future

Bringing Our Library Services Platform Into the Future

As a member of the OhioLINK consortium, Ohio Wesleyan University Libraries will be upgrading its library services platform during the months of June and July 2025. The new enterprise software will be used to manage day-to-date operations (searching, borrowing, lending, statistics, etc.) as well as help users find and access the information they need for teaching, learning, and research. It includes our library catalogs (CONSORT, OhioLINK and SearchOhio), our discovery service (Summon or "All" search), and more. 

Overview of Service Impacts from March 1 - July 28, 2025

OhioLINK and staff from all member libraries, including OWU, have been hard at work behind the scenes for the last year and a half to prepare for this major transition. This spring and early summer, our systems will experience some necessary technical freezes to complete the final transition. These have been timed in such a way to cause minimal disruption to end users and library services. OWU staff are actively working with OhioLINK and member colleagues on workarounds to make this migration as seamless as possible. For your cognizance, we want to bring attention to the following system freeze dates and their impact on services for Spring and Summer semesters.

March 28 - April 26, 2025: Access to New Resources

This freeze will impact our ability to add records of new resources to our system or make changes to existing resource records. We will resume adding and updating records for library resources after April 26, 2025. 

Impact to users and workarounds

• Library staff will provide a list on the library web site with corresponding links and call numbers for all resources (physical and electronic) added during this time.
• All links in use prior to March 28th will still work. 

May 23 - June 28, 2025: Borrowing Pause

CONSORT and OhioLINK borrowing and lending will pause beginning at 5pm on May 23, 2025 until the end of June. SearchOhio requests (from public libraries) will pause at the same time but resume a bit later in the year than OhioLINK.  

Impact to users and workarounds

• The "Request Item" buttons will disappear from these platforms during this time.
• We plan to utilize our Tipasa ILL service for patrons to request materials from OhioLINK institutions and beyond. Given this service tends to take longer than OhioLINK requesting, we encourage users to place as many requests for summer as possible before May 23rd. 

June 10 - 25, 2025: Checking out/returning materials

Beginning June 10th, library staff will have to manually checkout and return any materials. 

Impact to users and workarounds

• There will be a pause in receiving notifications of checkouts/returns on your patron account.
• Library users may contact libraries@owu.edu at any time to inquire about the status of their account or materials. 

July 28, 2025: Tentative "Go Live" Date

This will be the first day for full use of the new library services platform for public users. 

Impact to users and workarounds

• Both the CONSORT local catalog and Summon discovery interface will be replaced by Primo, a single search interface for all OWU and OhioLINK collections.
• Library staff will be working on making changes to LibGuides and the library website during implementation and go live to reflect all necessary changes.
• Staff will also be working on instructions and directions for navigating the new systems. They will be available to provide guidance on general use as well as help faculty with link updates for Blackboard, syllabi, etc. 

Other Migration FAQs

Why are we making this change?

The new LSP will offer stability and security, reducing the chances of security threats and loss of service or improvement that comes with aging software. It not only updates our system but will provide many additional features for users as we well as efficiencies to library operations and workflows. Some notable improvements include:

• Better management of digital library resources, which makes up a growing portion or our library resources.
• Integration with Blackboard to more easily integrate library or open education resources into courses. (This part of the transition will go live in early 2026, after the main migration of summer 2025).
• Allowance for closer collaboration between OhioLINK member libraries.
• Transition to a cloud-based product which allows for better remote work and help options. In addition, it will allow for more regular and automatic updates reducing the burden on campus system experts and systems.
• A more intuitive user experience, including an app for mobile devices.
• Expanded search capabilities, personalization and tracking of requests.

Will we still have access to the same resources as before?

Yes. Primo will replace the current catalog that searches all the physical holdings (books and other printed materials) and electronic resources (e-books, e-journals, databases) accessible to our library and campus. 

The interface will look different, but the actual collections will not change. Users will have new ways to search these collections and the library will provide training for doing so closer to the "Go-Live" date.

It is important to note, however, that CONSORT will be going away. Instead, users will be able to scope searches to OWU and other OhioLINK locations. The CONSORT libraries (Denison, Kenyon, Wooser and OWU) will still continue working closely with each other and retain the ability to request items from each other for longer lending periods as before. 

How much is this change costing OWU?

Amazingly, nothing. OhioLINK procured capital funding to upgrade all member systems together, with no additional cost to members. There are also several new tools as part of this package that might end up saving us money over time. 

When can I see the new system?

Library staff are working with their colleagues to discuss help documentation, training and more. Updates will be provided as they become available.