HELENA – The Lewis and Clark Library is now officially part of the Montana Shared Catalog.
“When patrons come in to search our catalog they’re going to notice a difference right away,” said John Finn, Lewis and Clark Library director, “We’re also changing the way we do things and also joining this larger group of libraries will streamline the way we get materials in the future.”
The Lewis and Clark Library has around 120,000 items available for checkout across all their branches. By joining the Montana Shared Catalog, the number of items available to patrons will increase to more than 4 million.
“Eventually we’ll be joining what is called a sharing group,” said systems manager Matt Beckstrom. “So we’ll be able to offer access to our patrons a larger base of materials to pull from. People can place holds on materials in other libraries and they’ll transfer to our library just as if it was on hold at another branch.”
The library was closed Monday and Tuesday while staff underwent training and integrated into the new system.
Beckstrom said there were a few hiccups on Wednesday, but State Library staff were on hand to help fix any issues.
The new catalog is already live on the Library’s website and staff say they’re more than happy to walk anyone through the new system.
More information about the Lewis and Clark Library, including all the programs and services they offer, can be found on their website here.
