Starting Nov. 17, students must use Interlibrary Loan to obtain books from other libraries in place of MeLCat until Dec. 12.
Breana Noble | Collegian
Don’t procrastinate on research for term papers because starting next week, the Michigan eLibrary Loan System will shut down temporarily.
Mossey Library patrons will be unable to request books from other in-state libraries through the statewide system starting Nov. 17. MeLCat will go offline due to a server migration and remain inaccessible until Dec. 12. In the meantime, students may use Interlibrary Loan forms to obtain books from other institutions.
The Library of Michigan will perform the server migration on Dec. 2. It transfers the entire catalogue of MeLCat books available from Michigan libraries to a new set of servers.
“Once the server migration has taken place, patrons are likely to see the time between their request and the book’s arrival shorten,” MeLCat System Administrator Jackie Licalzi said.
Though students can’t use MeLCat toward the end of the semester, the decision on timing came from review of recommendations from various sources.
“The timing was based on input from libraries and an analysis of MeLCat requests placed last year,” Licalzi said. “In general, this period of time sees fewer MeLCat requests.”
The migration will not take an entire month to complete. For much of the period, the transportation and delivery service will continue.
“The time between Nov. 18 and Nov. 30 will act as a kind of buffer so that materials will get to their patrons,” said Brenna Wade, technical librarian at Mossey Library.
Those who check out books around this time can renew MeLCat items through Dec. 1 and return items at any time during the migration. The librarians, however, will only check in them when the servers are online again.
Patrons cannot submit requests while MeLCat is offline, though they can search its database from Nov. 18 to Dec. 11.
While discussing how to execute the shutdown, MeLCat employees received input from libraries across the state.
“The primary question we considered was: Is there a way to do this this gradually?” Licalzi said. “We decided the answer was no. It was better to just rip off the Band-Aid.”
The organization decided it wanted to finish the project in one week rather than the alternate piecemeal six-week project.
“Moving servers from one location to another is like moving from house to house,” Licalzi said. “It is a time-consuming process.”
MeLCat is a project of the Library of Michigan and the Midwest Collaborative for Library Services. Since 2005, it has allowed those living in Michigan to order books and other materials from other participating libraries in the state for delivery to their local library.
“I think it’s inconvenient,” senior Matt Sauer said. “But at least they’re telling us months in advance. I’m hopeful it won’t complicate end of the year research projects too much.”
While the switch may make this semester a little more difficult for students, the librarians said they hope to minimize inconvenience during the switch.
“We will work hard to ensure the students are able to have the materials they need for the research they are doing,” Wade said.
For all materials needed while MeLCat is offline, Wade recommended using the Interlibrary Loan forms, which patrons can find at the circulation desk. The form is also online: go to http://Lib.Hillsdale.edu, select “Research Help,” click “MeLCat and ILL,” and complete the proper page under “Can’t find it on MeLCat?” in the gray box on the right side of the page.
