New Catalog

The new catalog is up and running! If you bookmarked links from the old catalog, here are the new links:

Catalog

My Account

We have prepared a page explaining how the new catalog works, as well as how to use our new Suggest a Purchase and LINKin features.

If you have questions, please contact us!

Dates to Remember:

SEPTEMBER 6:
EPL’s new stand-alone catalog goes live.

Why is EPL adopting this new catalog system?

Elmhurst Public Library has been a part of the SWAN consortium for many years. This means that our catalog system, which you currently use to search for items online, is shared with 80 other local libraries. Because the consortium is so large, it’s hard to make any changes or upgrades to the catalog. Also, the catalog is slow and it can be difficult to search because of the vast number of items included. By becoming a stand-alone library, we can realize upgrades sooner, make patron-friendly changes quickly and easily, and keep more of our collection here in Elmhurst for Elmhurst residents.

But what will happen to my ability to get items from other libraries?

You will still have access to items from other libraries. Although we are leaving the consortium, we are joining LINKin, a group of libraries that have formed a partnership for sharing resources. Unlike our current consortium, we will have total control to change and upgrade our catalog, while you will have access to collections that are larger and more varied than our current consortium. These partner libraries have huge collections which EPL card holders will be able to access. For example, Elmhurst does not have a large foreign language collection; however, Skokie Public Library–one of the partner libraries–carries resources in many different languages because their community is so diverse, which you could access through this new partnership.

When will the change take place?

EPL staff is already working on the transition. You will notice a change in the system mid-August. We are scheduled to go live with the new system at the beginning of September. Between August 19 and September 6, you will still be able to checkout and request materials; however, staff will have to manually enter requests. We will make this transition period as painless as possible by providing a variety of ways for you to contact us to place a hold. You can call us, IM us, send us an email, or place your hold in person.

Is there anything else I should know?

During September 3-6, you must have your Elmhurst Public Library card with you to check out materials. If you want to keep your reading history or wish lists, you must download them before August 31, and then set up these features with your new account in the upgraded system after September 6. If you need help doing this, ask a staff member.

Some new features/upgrades we’re really excited about:

• The new catalog will be easier to navigate and should be much faster.
• You can sign up for notices/reminders via text message
• You will get book recommendations while you’re searching the catalog (similar to Amazon and Google) of read-alikes and complimentary materials.
• The new catalog keeps track of better statistics so we can stock the materials Elmhurst really wants.
• It’ll be easier to suggest purchases. You tell us what we should buy.
• More Elmhurst materials will be available for Elmhurst patrons. With current catalog, we send out 8,000 items each month, all over Chicagoland. This will drop to about 8,000 each year, increasing the likelihood of availability for Elmhurst patrons.
• We’re changing from sharing with 80 SWAN libraries to sharing with some of the best libraries in the state. The LINKin libraries include: Skokie, Naperville, Arlington Heights, Cook Memorial (Libertyville), Deerfield, Gail Borden (Elgin), and Waukegan. The LINKin library total collection size contains 717,616 unique titles and 1,684,875 volumes.  These numbers do not contain the Naperville Public Library collection numbers because at the time these numbers were compiled, Naperville was transitioning into the partnership.  According to information obtained in a library survey, Naperville adds another 819,000 items. According to the SWAN web site, the SWAN Consortium catalog lists “more than one million titles.”