We’re improving our search in January!

Changes are coming to the Libraries’ catalog search in January 2019. As part of the TRLN Discovery Project, a collaboration with our Triangle Research Libraries Network (TRLN) partners (Duke University, North Carolina Central University, and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), our current Endeca-based catalog system will be replaced with open source tools and interfaces (Solr and Blacklight).

The biggest improvement in the new Blacklight-based interface is that our catalog search users won’t have to go to a separate place to search for library resources across TRLN. You will be able to toggle between just the NC State University Libraries collection and the broader TRLN libraries collection within a single search interface. You will also be able to request materials from both NC State and other TRLN institutions directly from the NC State University Libraries catalog interface. As part of this transition, search results will have a slightly different look and feel.

The changeover is currently scheduled for Monday, Jan. 14.

“With the new NCSU Libraries catalog, users will be able to broaden their search across the collections of all four TRLN institutions and seamlessly request materials within the context of a single interface,” says Emily Lynema, Department Head, Information Technology. “Our goal for this project is to contribute toward TRLN's vision of a comprehensive shared collection available to all students, faculty, and staff at each institution.” 

While many university libraries have adopted these open source tools, adopting them collaboratively across TRLN is innovative.

“This project is exciting as it was an opportunity to develop software collaboratively across the TRLN consortium,” Lynema notes. “Each institution has contributed a different valuable skill set that has allowed us to produce shared software. In the future, we will be able to continue to work together to build new features once for use across all the TRLN institutions.”

The TRLN is a collaborative organization of Duke University, North Carolina Central University, North Carolina State University, and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the purpose of which is to marshal the financial, human, and information resources of their research libraries through cooperative efforts in order to create a rich and unparalleled knowledge environment that furthers the universities’ teaching, research, and service missions. The TRLN consortium pursues strategic opportunities to realize efficient use of resources through joint institutional initiatives.