August 24, 2018—The James A. Cannavino Library at Marist College is the newest member of ConnectNY, a state-wide library consortium.

“The benefits of Marist’s participation in ConnectNY will be immediately evident to the Marist community,” said Becky Albitz, Director of the Cannavino Library.  “Students, faculty, and staff can search all participating libraries’ catalogs simultaneously.  When a book is located, our users will be able to place a request immediately for that title.”

Founded in 2001 by Colgate University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rochester Institute of Technology, Vassar College, and St. Lawrence University, ConnectNY was originally created to facilitate sharing of library collections among the members.  ConnectNY has expanded dramatically since, with 17 member libraries participating in both shared print lending and electronic content licensing. 

Thanks to daily van delivery among the ConnectNY libraries, book delivery time is reduced when compared to traditional interlibrary loan. In addition, any member of the Marist College community is able to visit any other ConnectNY library (full list below) to access collections and borrow materials directly. “This is an important convenience, particularly for our distance learners,” noted Albitz.

Implementation of this new borrowing option was a year in the making. Marist joined ConnectNY last June, but had to implement a new integrated library system before the ConnectNY borrowing option could be made available.  Both projects were accomplished through the commitment of librarians Katy Silberger, Marta Cwik, Nancy Calabrese, Judy Diffenderfer, and Monish Singh.  Critical to both implementations was Catherine Murphy of Information Technology, who ensured that all data transfers between Marist and third-party vendors were accomplished in a secure and timely fashion.  

Search the ConnectyNY catalog at http://encore.connectny.info/iii/encore/?lang=eng

ConnectNY participating libraries:

Adelphi University

Bard College

Canisius College

Colgate University

Hamilton College

Le Moyne College

Medaille College

Pace University

Pratt Institute

RPI

RIT

St. Lawrence University

Siena College

Skidmore College

United States Merchant Marine Academy

United States Military Academy

Vassar College