You’re probably already familiar with the interlibrary loan system: Snell Library doesn’t have a book (or video or cd) that you want, so you order it, and we get it for you from another library. An email tells you when it arrives at Snell, you pick it up, take it home, and return it to Snell when you’re done.
Beginning today, Northeastern and the member libraries of the Boston Library Consortium offer you a new way to quickly search all our catalogs at once, and easily make interlibrary loan requests for the books and audiovisual items you need. Called “WorldCat Local” , this web-based mega-catalog searches across the Boston Library Consortium and beyond, and uses your myNEU login for placing orders.
Of course, not everything you see in WorldCat Local can be ordered; you’ll still have to visit the member libraries in person for things like rare and archival materials, reference encyclopedias, and journals. But with WorldCat Local, it’s a snap to see exactly which library has what you need before you make the trek, and the ILLiad and Nexpress systems remain available for ordering individual article pdf’s.
To try WCL, go to http://northeastern.worldcat.org or look for the link in Nucat or on our “Borrowing from other libraries” pages. WorldCat Local is available to any member of the public for searching. Current NU faculty, staff and students with myNEU accounts may place orders.
Please let us know what you think of WorldCat Local!