About the Project

What is the project?

As a member of the OhioLINK library consortium, Archer Library and Ashland Theological Seminary Library will be upgrading our library system software to Ex Libris's Alma and Primo VE, scheduled to go live on June 18, 2025. The new system will replace the existing Library Catalog, OhioLINK/SearchOhio Catalogs, and OneSearch. All Libraries in OhioLINK are migrating to the new system.

What will this mean for Ashland students, faculty, staff, and other library users?

• New websites will replace the existing Library Catalog, OhioLINK/SearchOhio Catalogs, and OneSearch sites. The library collections will remain the same, but the interface used to search them will look different.

• There will be temporary interruptions to borrowing and requesting, purchase of new library materials, and updates to the library catalog.

• Links to items and searches in the Ashland Library Catalog and the OhioLINK/SearchOhio Catalogs will need to be updated.

Why Migrate?

Libraries have changed a lot since our existing software was created 30 years ago. We now curate collections of print and online content to support teaching, learning, and research. Alma/Primo is the most-used library system in U.S. academic libraries, used by over 65% of Association of Research Libraries members. Our campus can expect an improved user experience with a more intuitive interface to find print and online articles, books, and other library materials.

Benefits include:

• Faster searching: search a variety of electronic and print resources from one interface

• Enhanced discovery: explore automatic recommendations, citation trails, availability in multiple formats, and track requests

• Personalized features: save preferences, searches, citations, and export to citation management systems

• More intuitive user experience

• Mobile friendly: a responsive user interface designed specifically for mobile devices