It took becoming a trustee for me to learn that Massachusetts has a single catalog that includes almost all public libraries and many educational libraries as well. For example, a couple of months ago I found a relatively obscure book about Ulysses that lived in exactly one university library in the entire state, and I ordered (and read) it; similarly, just now I wanted a recent deluxe annotated version of Middlemarch, and it turned out again that one library did have it, this time in the tony suburb of Wellesley. It’s on its way!
This seems very cool to me. [and note: this system was recently threatened by a withdrawal of federal funding that was reversed via lawsuit]
Anyway, if you’re in the US, does your state have this? If you’re in a different country, does it have something similar (depending on scale, either regional or countrywide)?
Michigan has MelCat, which is a pretty comprehensive connection between many, if not all, libraries in Michigan.
There is a cost for local libraries, so the rule is to use the regular library network before hitting MelCat up. MelCat is for books not in Southeast Michigan connection of libraries.
I’ve had use of the MelCat for obscure books. It works well, includes Michigan State and U of Michigan libraries, plus much more.
Anyway, the answer is “Yes, Michigan has a pretty comprehensive one.”
Australia has the ultra-wonderful Trove (trove.nla.gov.au), which includes the ability to search a unified national catalogue of books held in public and other libraries, archives, digitised collections of images and text, including bajillions of newspaper pages from 1803 onwards, websites etc etc etc. Its a truly remarkable creation that has changed how we interact and find out about our past.
New Zealand has the equally awesome Papers Past (paperspast.natlib.govt.nz) which covers NZ newspapers and magazines, archives and books relating to New Zealand. Not sure if there is a consolidated national catalogue of library holdings within that.
I’m pretty sure you can’t directly order from WorldCat; maybe I should have used the word ‘accessible’ in my title.
Funny, I’d never heard of WorldCat until I went to the Rosenbach Museum in Philadelphia last year, where I got to page through one of the original Ulysses manuscripts. The curator there told me about how they keep track of extant versions of the book, and said WorldCat was a big help.
Wow! I did not know this. I’ve been using two of the (apparently) eight library networks in Massachusetts individually. I thought all libraries were part of the two networks I was using. I guess I should have noticed that my search results were all in the same region of the state that I lived in. I thought there was some sorting algorithm that showed me the closest ones to my local libraries (I have two cards, one from my town and one from the city I work in). BPL, CLAMS, CWMARS, Merrimack Valley, Minuteman, NOBLE, Old Colony, and SAILS. Looking at the networks it seems like they are regional, if somewhat overlapping. I can add all the networks to my Libby app and borrow from every community library in Massachusetts, it seems. Though I am boggled by how the physical transport of books works between 200+ libraries (some with multiple branches)
I’m an avid community library user and previously was a heavy user of academic libraries (three time loser in grad school, three consolation Masters prizes). I feel so dumb not knowing this.
California has Link+ with around 100 academic and public library systems. I only have limited experience using it but didn’t have any issues checking out books from non-local locations.
For me the best deal at our libraries is being able to check out California State Park Passes for 3 weeks at a time. There are enough passes in the system in my area that there’s rarely a wait of more than a couple days to reserve one and pick it up.
Yeah, you and I are in all the same networks. And again, I didn’t even know about this until I became a trustee. I can ask how the books get moved around!
Also, don’t forget Hoopla if Libby doesn’t have it.
Maryland has MARINA system which allows any user to request a book from any public library in the state, if it is not available in the user’s home county.
The kinds of books may vary quite a lot depending on your state’s interlibrary loan system as well as the participating out-of-state library. The Texas system prioritizes Texas libraries, and I have never had a book search not find one here so my searches have never had to go out of state. The only materials I’ve had refused were classified as reference books.
The time it has taken to get books through Texas Armadillo Network has varied - I got one from El Paso (700 miles away) in less than a week, and one from Rice University (30? miles away) took almost nine weeks. Most are two or three weeks. I guess sometimes the sending library isn’t that motivated.
My local librarian did tell me that out-of-state loans can require paid shipping. I guess that depends on the degree of participation between the library systems.
Wisconsin uses something called the MORE System. Not sure if I can get any book in the State, but it looks like many libraries around the state are part of this system (20-30 or so).
I use Link+ all the time, and it works great. You can have the book sent to the local library of your choice.
My wife uses WorldCat all the time to see how many libraries her books are in, but not all libraries are on the system. You can sort by the distance of the library from you,
Hmm - just looked up our book on it (169 libraries) and found that you can borrow using it. The closest one is the Stanford University Library, though it is also in a few of our local libraries.
They totally redid the website from the last time I visited.