Finding library resources in the national capital is now easier.
The SmartLibrary project was officially launched February 10 as one of 13 projects funded by Industry Canada through the SmartCapital Program of the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI).
The SmartLibrary portal offers seamless access to the catalogues of the five largest libraries in the region:
“The project’s long-term goal is to provide access in both English and French to the rich resources and services of the libraries, museums and archives within the region, through a community-based citizens’ library,” said project coordinator Mary Cavanagh.
SmartLibrary is the result of a unique collaboration between federal, municipal and academic libraries to make their rich collections more accessible to everyone in the region.
“We’re creating a portal that will give us access to information about each other’s collections so that we can move towards sharing services across our libraries. The idea is that we’ll expand beyond those five libraries into the hospital and federal libraries,” University of Ottawa chief librarian Leslie Weir said.
Users can now search 32 million items online including electronic journals, government publications, conference proceedings, technical reports, microforms, books, DVDs, photos, maps, slides, sound recordings and compact discs.
