New Library System Coming Summer 2025
As a member of the OhioLINK consortium, the College of Wooster Libraries will be upgrading its library services platform from June 10-25, 2025. The new enterprise software for academic libraries is used to manage day-to-day operations (borrowing, lending, discovery, statistics etc.) as well as to help faculty and students 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 “All” search, and more.
Important service impacts from March 28, 2025 - June 28, 2025
OhioLINK and staff from all member libraries, including the College of Wooster, have been hard at work behind the scenes for the past 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. Staff are actively working with OhioLINK and member colleagues on workarounds to make this migration as seamless as possible when the time comes. For your awareness, we want to bring your attention to the following system freeze dates and their impact on services for Spring semester and Summer.
March 28 - April 26, 2025: Access to New Records/Resources
This freeze will impact our ability to add new records or make changes to records. We will resume adding and updating records for library resources after April 26, 2025.
Impact to users and workarounds
● The CONSORT and OhioLINK catalogs will still be accessible during this time.
● Library staff will provide a list on the Primo LibGuide with relevant links and call numbers for all resources (physical as well as electronic) acquired during this time.
● All links to CONSORT items in use prior to March 28th will still work.
May 23 - June 27, 2025: OhioLINK/SearchOhio Lending Pause
OhioLINK requests and lending will pause beginning at 5pm on May 23rd, 2025, until the end of June. SearchOhio (requests from the public libraries) will pause at the same time but resume a bit later in the year.
Impact to users and workarounds
● The CONSORT and OhioLINK catalogs will still be accessible.
● The request item buttons will disappear from these platforms during this time.
● Users will not have the ability to request local College of Wooster items.
● We plan to utilize our Tipasa ILL service for patrons to use to request materials both from OhioLINK institutions and beyond. Given this service tends to take longer than OhioLINK requesting, we encourage users to place requests for summer as soon as possible before May 23rd.
● Book and material ordering will cease until the “go-live” date.
June 10-25, 2025: Checking out/returning College of Wooster materials
Beginning June 10th, we will have to manually check out any local materials.
Impact to users and workarounds
● The CONSORT and OhioLINK catalogs will still be accessible.
● Users will not have the ability to request local College of Wooster items.
● There will be a pause in receiving notifications of checkouts/returns on the patron’s account.
● Library users may contact circulation@wooster.edu at any time to inquire about the status of your account and materials.
June 27th - “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 College of Wooster and OhioLINK collections.
● Library staff will be working on making changes to LibGuides and the library website during the period between implementation and go live.
● Staff will also be working on instructions and directions for navigating the new systems and will be available to provide guidance to faculty on link updates.
● Users will not have the ability to request local College of Wooster items.
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 well as efficiencies to library operations and workflows. Some notable improvements include:
● Better management of electronic library resources, which makes up a growing portion of our library’s resources.
● 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 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 books and electronic resources as before?
Primo will replace the current catalog, CONSORT, that searches all the physical holdings (books and other printed materials) and Summon, that searches electronic resources (e-books, e-journals, and databases) accessible to you through the College of Wooster Libraries.
The interface will look different, but the actual collections included in the search will not change. Users will have new ways to search across electronic and print collections. The library will provide training when the time comes.
However, it is important to note that CONSORT will be going away with this migration. Users will be able to scope searches by the College of Wooster and other OhioLINK locations.
How much is this change costing the College of Wooster?
Amazingly, nothing. OhioLINK procured capital funding to upgrade our system with no additional migration cost to members. Additionally, there are 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 these become available.