New integrated system will make for better, faster searching

Alberta Comer, dean of Cunningham Memorial Library, said she expects to hear excitement and "wows" all over campus when students start using the new catalog.

Jan. 28, representatives from the library met with the members of the participating libraries in the new consortium to conduct the signing.

Comer said that the new consortium has combined an academic library with a public library in the same catalog, the first to do so in Indiana.

"We are actually one in a handful of schools in the United States who has done this," Comer said.

Tim Gritten, ISU head of systems and interim head of acquisitions at Cunningham Memorial Library, said the new library now in the consortium is Vigo County Public Library.

The students who use the other libraries will also receive the same privileges from the consortium that ISU students receive.

Comer said that no policies will be changing, and ISU will work with the other libraries to work out policy issues, but this aspect has not been discussed much among the group.

The collegiate libraries of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, ISU and Saint Mary-of-the-Woods have been included in the consortium for several years and will remain so.

Gritten said Cunningham Memorial Library is introducing a new catalog system in the fall of 2010.  Although this new catalog system will not be available for use before next semester, there is a group already working on getting it up and running.

Gritten hopes the catalog will be accessible from students' PDAs and mobile devices. The catalog should also contain digitized pictures from historical events.

Betsy Hine, interim associate dean and librarian at Indiana State University, said another great thing about the catalog system would handle circulation information as well, such as fines, fees and reservations.

"With the new system, everything can be connected to one place," Hine said.

Each of the members of Cunningham Memorial Library who are working with the new system encourages ISU students to utilize the new catalog. Carol Jinbo, library public relations coordinator, said it is paramount that the students use this new resource.

Hine said that the catalog is key to research and success as students. She also said that it saves time and helps students be efficient with their time management.

"Statistics show that students who use the library have higher GPAs than the students who don't," Comer said.