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Try easyBorrow: Search Once and Let Us Get it for You
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The Library has just launched a beta version of easyBorrow, a simplfied interface to the various borrowing options the Library makes available through its partnerships with other libraries in the Ivy League and in New England.
These options — InRhode, Borrow Direct, Virtual Catalog, and Interlibrary Loan — while vastly increasing the volume of material available to the Brown community, can be difficult to discover and to navigate. They are separate proprietary systems with different interfaces; some require a login with a library barcode, others a Brown username and password; if a search fails in one it must be repeated manually in the others. Not only is this arrangement inconvenient, it also results in a significant percentage of requests going to the service that provides the item most slowly, and that is most costly for the Library.
Our solution is easyBorrow, a locally developed system which we are currently testing in a beta version. The system uses WorldCat as the starting point for locating a desired item. When you click “Request this item”, the easyBorrow system first performs a lookup in Josiah, checking location and availability. If a circulating copy is available, you are redirected to the Josiah record. If no copy is available, you are directed to an authentication screen to place your request. The easyBorrow system displays a message that the request was accepted and that an email with details will follow shortly. Behind the scenes, the easyBorrow system queries and attempts to place your request with the most appropriate service. If the request cannot be placed in the first system, it will try the second and third if necessary; if still not found, the request will go to the ILLiad Interlibrary Loan service. Attempts and results are recorded in a database that can be viewed by staff should a problem arise.
To try easyBorrow, use the WorldCat / easyBorrow link which appears on the library home page and on the left navigation bar on second tier pages of the library website.
Please send your feedback to libweb@brown.edu! -
Audubon’s “Rufous Hummingbird” on display at the John Hay Library
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A volume of John James Audubon’s master work, The Birds of America, is on display on the main floor of the John Hay Library. Each bird will be on display for only one month. This month’s bird is “Rufous Hummingbird”. The library is open 9 to 5, Monday through Friday.
This elephant folio edition of The Birds of America, bound in six volumes, was presented by Albert E. Lownes to the Library on the occasion of his 50th class reunion in 1970.
For more information contact hay@brown.edu -
They Came from the Hay….PULPS!!
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A small selection of pulp magazines from the collection of the John Hay Library is on exhibit now through the end of June in the library’s lobby.
The library is open 9 to 5, Monday through Friday.
The exhibit includes issues of Weird Tales with cover art by Margaret Brundage, and Tennessee Williams’ first published story.
For further information contact hay@brown.edu