Interlibrary loan is a service that enables patrons of one library to borrow physical materials and receive electronic documents that are held by another library. The service expands library patrons' access to resources beyond their local library's holdings, serving as "an integral element of collection development" for libraries.
This page is a glossary of library and information science.
OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was founded in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center, then became the Online Computer Library Center as it expanded. In 2017, the name was formally changed to OCLC, Inc. OCLC and thousands of its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the largest online public access catalog in the world. OCLC is funded mainly by the fees that libraries pay for the many different services it offers. OCLC also maintains the Dewey Decimal Classification system.
WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions, in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCLC member libraries collectively maintain WorldCat's database, the world's largest bibliographic database. The database includes other information sources in addition to member library collections. OCLC makes WorldCat itself available free to libraries, but the catalog is the foundation for other subscription OCLC services. WorldCat is used by librarians for cataloging and research and by the general public.
An integrated library system (ILS), also known as a library management system (LMS), is an enterprise resource planning system for a library, used to track items owned, orders made, bills paid, and patrons who have borrowed.
The San Diego County Library is a public library system serving San Diego County in the U.S. state of California. Any person living in the state is eligible for a free library card. The San Diego County Library consists of 33 branches, two bookmobiles, and two 24/7 Library to Go kiosks. Library Journal and Gale conferred the 2012 Library of the Year award on the San Diego County Library.
Westchester Library System (WLS) is the library system for the residents of Westchester County, New York. It was established in 1958. The system has 38 public libraries across the county and its headquarters are located in the town of Greenburgh, near Elmsford.
The Ohio Library and Information Network (OhioLINK) is a consortium of Ohio's college and university libraries and the State Library of Ohio. Serving more than 800,000 students, faculty, and staff at 88 institutions with 117 libraries, OhioLINK's membership includes 16 public universities, 23 community/technical colleges, 48 private colleges and the State Library of Ohio. OhioLINK serves faculty, students, staff and other researchers via campus-based integrated library systems, the OhioLINK central site, and Internet resources.
The Westerville Public Library is a public library that serves the community of Westerville, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. As a school district library, its geographic boundaries are defined by the Westerville City School District which is located in both Franklin County and Delaware County. All Ohio residents can apply for a Westerville Public Library card.
The Whatcom County Library System (WCLS) is a public library service for residents of Whatcom County, Washington. It has 10 library branches, a bookmobile, and other programs.
The River Forest Public Library is located at 735 Lathrop Avenue in River Forest, Illinois, a suburban community west of Chicago. It serves a core population of approximately 11,000 residents, and drawing reciprocal patrons from the surrounding area. The library is part of the SWAN consortium, which connects libraries in over 80 suburbs of Chicago through a shared catalog and other services.
The Library System of Lancaster County (LSLC) is a federated system, which serves 519,462 residents in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is made up of a consortium of 14 member libraries, two branches and a bookmobile. LSLC was established in April 1987 to provide well-coordinated, countywide services and cooperative programs to assist member libraries in meeting the diverse needs of its residents. The LSLC support and centralized services include (public Internet access, a shared online public access catalog system, subscription to database- and online homework-help research services, consulting services, continuing education training in internal library operations, governance, business-information services, youth services, public relations, assistance with countywide programs and services, technology support, web hosting, email, calendars, the catalog, circulation, headquarters and library PCs and peripherals, training and security. The system also provides services for ordering, cataloging and processing library materials with collection development, collective purchasing, managing catalog databases, negotiating vendor discounts, and outreach services to special populations through the bookmobile and collection development.
The Serving Every Ohioan (SEO) Library Center of the State Library of Ohio, located in Caldwell, Ohio, supports a consortium of 92 library systems at 224 locations in 46 counties. The SEO Library Center houses, maintains and supports a centralized shared catalog database that includes over 8 million items with a patron database of 930,000+ borrowers. The SEO Library Center staff provides technical support as well as software support for all consortium members, alleviating the burden of specialized IT functions on small libraries. The Center houses over 200,000 materials which includes books, entertainment and public performance DVDs, videos and 16mm films, books on tape/cd, playaways, MP3 cds, Ellison letter dies and microfilm/fiche. The SEO Library Center also provides and maintains training facilities through a mobile computer lab and the F. Ward Murrey Annex facility to state agencies and public libraries across Ohio.
SearchOhio is a consortium of public libraries in the state of Ohio that provides borrowing access to more than 10 million library items, including books, movies and music, providing easy access to information and rapid delivery of library materials throughout the state. It was established in 2006.
The Gilbert M. Simmons Memorial Library is located in Kenosha, Wisconsin, United States, and is a location of the Kenosha Public Library (KPL). KPL consists of 4 locations, an Outreach department, and is a member of both the Kenosha County Library System (KCLS) and the SHARE Consortium. The Simmons Memorial Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, and was the first formal location for KPL. KPL was named the Power of Libraries Award Winner in 2018, Wisconsin Library Association's 2020 Library of the Year, and a finalist for the National Medal for Museum and Library Service in 2021.
The University Library at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign is the network of libraries, including both physical and virtual library spaces, which serves the university's students, faculty, and staff, as well as scholars and researchers worldwide. The University Library continues to evolve to serve the needs of the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign campus.
The Oak Park Public Library is the public library system serving the village of Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb just west of Chicago. Founded as a public library in 1903, the library has three locations offering books, magazines, movies, music, computer access, and programs for all ages. In 2015, the three buildings were open 356 days, circulated more than 1.3 million items, recorded 864,712 building visits and 463,147 unique website visits, recorded 47,939 program participant visits, and was supported by 4,200 volunteer hours.
The SAILS Library Network, formerly Southeastern Automated Integrated Library Services, is a non-profit library consortium of 70 member libraries in 39 communities located throughout Southeastern Massachusetts. SAILS was founded in 1995 to link the ABLE and SEAL library networks, which were later dissolved into SAILS in 2000. The network provides library patrons with access to check out and return items at member libraries, interlibrary loans through the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners' Commonwealth Catalog, mobile app access, and access to electronic collections. Member libraries are provided customized online catalog services, digital collections storage, internet and telecommunications services, email and Google Apps accounts for library staff, access to SirsiDynix software, and staff training.
The West Chicago Public Library is the public library serving the city of West Chicago, Illinois. It is located at 118 West Washington street in downtown West Chicago. The library has a collection of 83,711 items that includes books, audio CDs, movies, magazines, video games, and other nonbook materials making up their library of things, and recorded a total of 109,029 library visits in 2018. West Chicago Public Library is part of the System Wide Automated Network (SWAN), which connects 97 libraries in many Chicago suburbs. They are a member of OCLC's global cooperative and RAILS delivery service.
