Beginning in the summer of 2022, the Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation (IPLC), a partnership of 13 academic research libraries, will launch ReShare Returnables, a new resource sharing software offering enhanced inter-library open sharing capabilities.
ReShare Returnables will support BorrowDirect, the IPLC resource sharing program. BorrowDirect, founded in 1999, enables faculty, students, and researchers at IPLC libraries to discover, request, and rapidly receive physical materials from members' library collections.
The new software will create more efficient staff workflows, eliminating some of the time and complicated steps needed to deliver items to patrons. The redesigned catalog provides patrons with an easy-to-use interface built for browsing IPLC collections and discovering everything available to them via BorrowDirect.
IPLC has contracted with Index Data, a library software developer and service provider, to implement ReShare Returnables as part of its commitment to advancing library resource sharing systems. ReShare Returnables is the premier product of Project ReShare, a community of libraries, consortia, software developers, and open source advocates. Project ReShare is modeling mutual investment in open collaboration intended to break down the barriers and silos associated with commercial platforms and replace them with an inclusive, community-owned ecosystem.
Accordingly, the IPLC aims to join Project ReShare as a formal member of the project community.
Members of IPLC include Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Duke University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Princeton University, Stanford University, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University.
Sharing resources enables IPLC library patrons to draw on a collective world-premier collection of over 90 million items.