Academic resource sharing has been impacted over the last 18 months due to an unprecedented pandemic causing temporary physical library closures and reduction or elimination of sharing resources. Additionally, the impact of understanding the virus lifespan on physical materials also shaped how libraries are providing resources and fulfilling ILL requests in a timely manner. This session will provide updates from various library groups on how COVID impacted the library’s or group’s mission of sharing materials, the creation of new or improved resource sharing initiatives, and the cultivation of new partnerships in this new environment.

Sponsored by the Empire State Library Network, this session is an overview of how resource sharing has impacted library organizations and academic libraries in response to the pandemic. The audience is academic directors and librarians and staff who support resource sharing.

Each speaker will present for about 15 minutes with five minutes for questions after each session. Attendees are encouraged to submit questions ahead of time.

• Tim Jackson, Resource Sharing and Fulfillment Coordinator for SUNY Library Services: The SUNY system implemented Alma resource sharing in the summer of 2019.  This session will cover the positives and negatives of that implementation; the impact COVID-19 had on resource sharing in SUNY, our efforts to expand Alma resource sharing, and our plans for the future.
• Chris (CJ) Keough, Manager of the Libraries Annex at the University at Buffalo, and member of the Empire Library Delivery (ELD) Advisory Committee: Similarly to all libraries across New York State, the University at Buffalo was greatly impacted by the COVID outbreak.  Complete closure for four months resulted in e-only access for our users and those we could lend to.  Upon re-opening in the fall of 2020, the staff at the University at Buffalo had to adjust many of the policies, procedures, and workflows to compensate for the safety of our staff while also getting our users what they need.   This presentation will highlight some of those changes and impact of those changes for the users at the University at Buffalo. Additionally, there will be discussion of how the Empire Library Delivery service was affected, where things currently stand with members restarting service and plans for the upcoming year.
• Mark Sullivan, Executive Director of the IDS Project: Mark will provide an update on IDS.
• Kristen Wilson, Project Manager/Business Analyst, IndexData and Pam Jones, Executive Director, ConnectNY: ReShare is a community-owned, modular resource sharing platform designed to offer seamless access to shared library collections and facilitate efficient, intuitive workflows for library staff. ReShare recently released version 1.2 of its Returnables software, focused on sharing physical items between members of a consortium, and two early implementers will go live this summer: ConnectNY (CNY) and PALCI. In this presentation, Kristen Wilson will give an introduction to the ReShare project community and a brief demo of the software. Pam Jones will talk about CNY’s decision to implement ReShare. Pam and Kristen will share their experiences with the ReShare implementation process and provide updates on CNY’s progress so far.
• John Raymond, Access Services & Technology Librarian, Siena College: Siena College Library uses Controlled Digital Lending (CDL) tools to keep course reserves active during COVID-19. John will provide an overview of their experience with CDL.
• Andrew White, Director of Library Information Services, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Michele Matthews, Interlibrary Loan Librarian, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: Andrew and Michele will speak on their approach to joining a variety of ILL programs to diversify their abilities to supplement existing collections and how their ILL activities changed by volume and format type as a result of the pandemic.
• ESLN Institutional Repository Pilot Project Participants: Speakers will provide an overview of the Archipelago Institutional Repository Pilot project.  Pilot libraries will discuss their experiences and plans for the future.  We will also look at the long-term potential of using Archipelago as an IR.

Register @ ESLN