Over the next several months of 2024/2025, there will be changes in how the collections of NEOS libraries are made available.

Currently, NEOS libraries share one catalogue, and students and staff of all NEOS libraries can borrow items from any library by placing a hold and choosing a library to pick up the item, or by visiting a NEOS library with their library card.

NEOS libraries will be moving to multiple catalogues, and students and staff will have to use other methods for borrowing items from libraries other than their own.

Libraries will be leaving the shared catalogue in stages.

When a library leaves the shared catalogue:

• That library’s students and staff will continue to borrow items from their own library and place holds/pick up items from their own library.
• If they wish to borrow items from other NEOS libraries, they have two options:
  • Interlibrary Loan: request an item through their own library’s Interlibrary Loan service. The item will be borrowed from the owning library and made available to the borrower at their own library.
  • NEOS borrower: visit the library that owns the item in person, set up an account at that library, and borrow directly from the owning library. The item has to be returned to the owning library.
• Students and staff from other NEOS libraries who want to borrow from a library that has left the shared catalogue also have two options:
  • Interlibrary Loan: request an item on ILL via their own library. The item will be borrowed from the owning library and made available to the borrower at their own library.
  • NEOS borrower: visit the library that owns the item in person, set up an account at that library, and borrow directly from the owning library. The item has to be returned to the owning library.
• Clients who are not primary borrowers (staff or students) at any of the NEOS libraries will have to set up NEOS cards/accounts at the individual libraries they want to borrow from. The Alberta Library Card can also still be used to borrow items from participating libraries.

Libraries which are still within the shared system will continue to share collections as usual. Eventually, by summer 2025, all libraries will have individual catalogues.

You will discover books from other libraries by making a point of searching in their catalogues, searching in shared catalogues such as OCLC Worldcat or the National Library & Archives Union Catalogue (Voilà), or through the course of your library database and Google Scholar searches.

Please note that if feasible in our individual catalogues, NEOS member libraries may investigate further options for shared catalogues and resource sharing in future.

For more information, please contact individual member libraries or Anne Carr-Wiggin.