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IDS Network

  • 120 member resource sharing consortium
  • Work primarily with ILLiad/Worldshare
    • IDS Logic provides ILLiad automation
  • Also, some development for Alma and RAPID
  • Monthly IDS Forums
  • Online Learning Institute
  • Annual Conference

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IMLS Grant

  • National Leadership Grants – Libraries
  • $232,817 to develop new resource sharing system
  • Awarded July 27th, 2023
  • Completion, June, 2025
  • The CrossLink IMLS grant was cancelled on April 8th, 2025
  • Requests for payments had been placed before the termination
  • IDS Network has reserve funding
  • Working with other consortia to continue development

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Advisory Committee

  • Sylvie Larsen, University of Pennsylvania
  • Lucy Harrison, GALILEO
  • Mallory Kasinec, Index Data
  • Mark Paris, Brandeis University
  • Mark Sullivan, IDS Project/SUNY Geneseo
  • Sebastian Hammer, Index Data
  • Sarah Shank, Ithaca College
  • Tim Jackson, SUNY OLIS
  • Zack Lane, Columbia University

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Need for CrossLink

  • Many interlibrary loan (ILL) and resource-sharing systems operate in isolation, creating barriers
  • Silos Between Systems: Libraries use different platforms that don’t communicate
  • Rising Costs: Subscription fees make it difficult to afford multiple solutions
  • Workflow Complexity: Navigating multiple systems leads to inefficiencies and delays.
  • CrossLink unifies and connects different library systems, enhancing resource sharing across institutions and consortia

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Public Libraries

  • Small libraries without a systems person
  • Small budgets
  • No union catalog of other public libraries
  • Some do not have an ILL solution and use ILL-l and regular email to send requests

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Academic Libraries

  • Reduced budgets and staff
    • Unable to keep multiple systems for working with different consortia
    • Need to cut back on other systems and focus on one
  • Have rarely worked closely with local public libraries due to siloed systems
  • Primary systems currently used are becoming more siloed and reducing options to work together

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Current Discovery Options

  • WorldCat
    • Not all libraries are part of WorldCat due to cost
  • Consortial Union Catalog
    • High upkeep so many smaller organizations can’t maintain one
    • Expense for system, support, and potentially staffing
  • Individual Library Catalog
    • Does not help with access to external materials

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ISO 18626 in Current Systems

  • Manually configured peer-to-peer relationships
  • Cannot by themselves support consortial borrowing at scale
  • Massive overhead in multiple systems to get any large scale resource sharing started
    • Firewall settings for peer to peer
    • Multiple libraries need to be configured at each location

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Vision of CrossLink

  • Improve the efficiency and lower the cost of resource sharing
  • Help with the issue of reduced staffing at libraries
  • Making discovery and resource sharing more accessible to smaller libraries
  • Promote interoperability among different systems by creating a standards-based network
  • Promote technology that will enable libraries to pursue consortial resource sharing while having flexibility to implement local library ILL workflows in the way that suits them best
  • Leverage the ISO18626 (ISO ILL standard) functionality which is increasingly becoming available in LSPs and resource sharing management systems

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Three critical infrastructure components

  1. a shared index of holdings for the group of libraries wishing to share resources
  2. a directory of services and configuration data, to furnish access information and necessary parameters to guide the choice of, and access to, potential suppliers
  3. broker – the business logic for handling requests between borrower and lender

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POD MaRC Data

OAI-PMH Data

Reservoir

PostgreSQL

SOLR

VuFind

CrossLink

CrossLink Discovery Flowchart

API

API

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Library Specific Logo

Search Options

Book Covers

Basic Bib Information

Library Search Limits

  • Local Library
  • Other Consortia Options
  • All Libraries in CrossLink

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CrossLink Discovery

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CrossLink Brokering Module

CrossLink is a broker system that:

    • Can receive requests from one library
    • Identify a list of suitable suppliers
    • Try those suppliers in turn before returning a response to a requesting library

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Supported Systems & Data Integration

  • Works with multiple resource-sharing systems, including:
    • Alma Resource Sharing
    • ILLiad
    • OpenRS
    • Rapido
    • ReShare
  • Handles data from various ILS platforms:
    • Uses OAI protocols for metadata harvesting and integration
    • Leverages the Reservoir System to manage bibliographic data from diverse sources that do not support OAI

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Development Highlights

  • Implemented REST JSON API for transactions and event logs
  • Added peer caching and supplier load balancing for efficient request handling
  • Developed SRU shared index Mock Service, establishing a universal holdings lookup protocol
  • Additional test scenarios to the Mock: Cancel, Overdue, Renew, Retry cost, Retry on loan/after date, Retry loan condition
  • Broker and Mock Services are now packaged as Docker containers for easy deployment

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Development Highlights

  • First series of tests against Alma were promising
    • Index Data test server and help from Ex Libris
  • Two issues were addressed through an Alma-specific ISO18626 implementation shim in the broker
  • Implemented additional logging in the broker for troubleshooting

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A Surprise

  • Index Data was implementing ReShare for Trove in Australia
  • Trove needed their Alma/Rapido libraries to communicate with ReShare
  • Index Data implemented CrossLink to link Trove’s libraries
  • Trove has been absolutely wonderful as our first CrossLink consortium
    • Found issues with Alma’s ISO 18626 and Partner Data
    • Ex Libris patched the issue
  • We are hoping for some additional fixes from Ex Libris soon

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The Road Ahead

  • Deploying the IDS/SUNY CrossLink Server
    • Currently working with SUNY OLIS to provide a test bed for CrossLink
    • Adding more libraries in December/January
  • Enhancing VuFind for streamlined discovery and request management
  • Expanding network partnerships to include more consortia and library systems
  • Additional testing with other ILSs and Resource Sharing Systems

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IDS Logic & CrossLink

  1. Copyright Processing
  2. Automated Processing
    1. Availability Lookup
    2. Data Import
    3. Smart Routing
  3. Remediated Articles

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Title II and Remediation

Option 1:

    • Using CrossLink and Logic to determine if we can purchase a remediated document

Option 2:

    • The Arizona State University Artificial Intelligence Cloud Innovation Center partnered with The Ohio State University Libraries to improv the accessibility of the library’s digital collections.
    • RIT Document and Pattern Recognition Lab
    • We are looking into seeing if this can be integrated into CrossLink

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Conclusion

  • CrossLink is not another ILL system—it is an ISO 18626 network connecting libraries
  • Enables seamless collaboration without requiring the adoption of new management software
  • Works with existing systems to remove barriers in resource sharing
  • Promotes equitable access by leveraging a flexible, interoperable approach
  • Provides additional automation and support

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Questions?