New Summit System - December 1, 2008

Summit, the system Clark College students, faculty and staff can use to borrow books and media from 36 academic libraries in Washington and Oregon, is upgrading to a new system and a new look on December 1, 2008. The new Summit system is integrated with the WorldCat database, so you will have access to more than 100 million items from libraries around the world.

Although the popular service will remain essentially the same, there will be changes as the member libraries work together to implement new technology. Initially there will be no renewals, but that capability is planned to be restored in early 2009. For more information, call Cannell Library staff at 360-992-2151.

1. The Look and Functionality of the New Summit Catalog:

• Search and results screens are streamlined and it’s easier to refine your search results.


• All of your results will have obvious links that make it easy to initiate your requests.


• With one search Summit will prioritize your results so that:


• The first items displayed are held by Summit libraries with the usual 2-3 day delivery.


• The remaining items are from libraries across the globe with variable availability and loan periods. These requests take longer to process and items could take 1-2 weeks to arrive.

2. Loan Periods and Renewals During the Transition:

• All books checked out between November 18 - December 1 from the former Summit catalog must be returned no later than December 12, 2008.


• Books checked out after December 1 from the new Summit catalog will be loaned for 6 weeks and cannot be renewed.


• Media checked out after December 1 will be loaned for only 3 days; no renewals will be allowed.


• During the implementation phase, items borrowed from other libraries can only be viewed in the new Summit interface. Any items checked out from the Clark College Library collection will continue to show in your individual library record.