After only one year of participation in the Ohio Library and Information Network (OhioLINK), a statewide interlibrary loan system, Wittenberg’s Thomas Library has become one of the network’s most active libraries in terms of requests made per student.

“I am proud that in its first year of OhioLINK participation Wittenberg was near the top of the list in terms of transactions per student,” said Kathy Schulz, library director.

“This suggests that Wittenberg students are serious students who are library savvy and have good research skills.”

Although Thomas Library has long participated in other interlibrary loan systems, none allowed patrons to initiate electronic requests directly nor was such prompt delivery achieved.

In 1998 Wittenberg borrowed 5,431 books or 2.7 books for each student. Statewide the average was 1.5 books per student.

OhioLINK material currently accounts for about 20 percent of Thomas Library circulation so that every fifth book Wittenberg users check out of the library is an OhioLINK item.

“The library staff members have observed that it is the better schools, including those with outstanding libraries, that make the most of OhioLINK,” Schulz said.

In addition to borrowing at this high rate, Thomas Library staff shipped out 4,056 books to other college and universities for use by students and scholars in other locations.

“The OhioLINK system is computer-managed so that the more a school borrows, the more likely it is to also receive requests,” Schulz explained.

“OhioLINK staff were surprised that Wittenberg had so many bibliographic records to load into the OhioLINK system. It turned out that, of schools that offer only undergraduate programs, we contributed more holdings to OhioLINK than any other.

This is partly because we have a larger library collection than many undergraduate institutions but also because our holdings are well-cataloged.”

A chief feature of OhioLINK is its Central Catalog, which combines the library catalogs of more than 70 member schools into one.

Library users searching in EZRA, Wittenberg’s online catalog, named for first president Ezra Keller, can easily switch to the OhioLINK Central Catalog and execute searches statewide.

Students, faculty and staff can then make online requests for any of OhioLINK’s seven million titles by keying in identifying data. A courier service is employed to deliver the requested books, most of which arrive in three business days.

Alternatively, Wittenberg library patrons may elect to visit any other OhioLINK library in the state and check material out directly.

The system thus expands Wittenberg students’ access from the 367,000 volumes in Thomas Library to the twenty-four million volumes of OhioLINK. Only current Wittenberg students, faculty and staff can borrow books through OhioLINK, however.

“Students love OhioLINK,” said Schulz, adding that “seniors are the most active OhioLINK requestors on this campus.”

In 1998, 30 percent of all our OhioLINK book requests were placed by seniors, many of whom use the service to help them complete their senior theses. Wittenberg faculty members also seem pleased with OhioLINK’s research capabilities.

Some even report canceling trips to major research libraries because of OhioLINK. Faculty particularly appreciate the fact that the Central Catalog reduces the time it takes to track down sources and allows them to use their time more efficiently.

In addition, Linda Lewis, professor of sociology, thinks that OhioLINK has enabled students to do more research in a faculty member’s subject area.

For example, Lewis had previously given her students brief library assignments related to her area of specialization, Korea, because relevant Thomas Library holdings were somewhat limited.

Now she can require the students in her Korean Society course to write a research paper because she is confident they can find sufficient sources through OhioLINK.