Announcing Catalyst

Dear Faculty, Students, and Staff,

The Carleton and St. Olaf Libraries are excited to announce that you’ll soon have a new way to search for library materials. This summer, the libraries will transition to Catalyst, our new library catalog. The new system will look a little different, but you will be able to find all the same library materials as before— and it will include some new features we think you will really appreciate.

We are making this transition now because our old system is no longer being supported, and Catalyst will bring us up-to-date. You will notice changes as we transition over the summer, with a final upgrade in August. Library staff at both Carleton and St. Olaf are working hard to make sure Catalyst will be ready when you all return in the fall.

There’s only one thing that you may need to do to prepare before June 19: if you save lists or searches in Bridge Squared, ask a librarian (Carleton/St. Olaf) for help exporting them or see the Catalyst transition blog for instructions.

We won’t stuff your inbox with updates about Catalyst over the summer, but we will be sharing more information on our blog, https://bridgeoutreach.library.sites.carleton.edu/. Library staff will be available during the summer and welcome your questions and feedback.

Have a great summer — and look for Catalyst in the fall!
Carleton and St. Olaf Library Staff

 

Email sent to Carleton and St. Olaf Communities on 5/17/16.

New library catalog this summer

Dear Carleton and St. Olaf faculty and staff,

We are pleased to announce that at the end of June the libraries will complete our migration to a new library management system that will replace our current software, Millennium, which is used to run the Bridge library catalog. Millennium is no longer being developed by the company that owns it.  After extensively researching alternatives, we have contracted with Ex Libris to run the Alma library management system. Alma has been adopted by many academic libraries, including the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin.  We are confident that Alma and its library catalog/search interface, which may look different than our current interface, will meet your needs and expectations, give us the ability to move forward as libraries and a consortium, and build upon the strong collaboration that characterizes Bridge.

Later this spring we will share more information about Alma, particularly the public features that you will be using for research, course reserves, and requesting materials.  In the meantime, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact either one of us.

Roberta Lembke                                                        Brad Schaffner
Director of IT and Libraries                                        College Librarian
St. Olaf College                                                          Carleton College
lembke@stolaf.edu                                                     bschaffner@carleton.edu