Thursday, January 18, 2024

The Coppenger Library has begun a major project to transition our Integrated Library System (ILS) to new software. This new system, once fully implemented, will result in improved library services for our seminary community. However, throughout this process, there will be some disruptions to library services. We desire to ensure that you have the library resources you need when you need them, so to aid during this time of transition, we are informing you of some key dates in the project and how they may affect you as a library user. Below is the most up-to-date timeline of what to expect.

  • CURRENT: Prospector borrowing and lending has been suspended indefinitely. No new Prospector requests will be fulfilled, and current checkouts must be returned to lending libraries by their respective due dates. MOBIUS hopes to reinstate Prospector borrowing and lending in the future.
  • Friday, March 8: Final day for Interlibrary Loan (ILL) requests for print books. All returnable ILL items must be checked in by this date. No new print-book ILL requests can be processed until the transition is completed. Scan requests for items owned by Midwestern will continue to be fulfilled through ILL as usual. Article requests will continue to be fulfilled through ILL as usual. We encourage users who need to receive print books through ILL after this date to pursue print-book ILL services with their local public libraries and/or guest privileges at nearby academic libraries.
  • Thursday, April 18: Final day for MOBIUS borrowing and lending. No new MOBIUS requests can be processed, and the MOBIUS/Classic catalogs will be permanently inaccessible. All future access to the library catalog will be incorporated through the Joshua search function.
  • Friday, April 19, through Tuesday, April 23: MOBIUS/EBSCO engineers construct the new library catalog for Midwestern. During this period, you may experience some interruptions or incomplete search results when using the Joshua search function.
  • Friday, May 3: FINAL DAY TO CHECK OUT PRINT BOOKS. No new checkouts can be made until the transition is completed. All current checkouts for faculty and returning students will be extended to August 16. Please check out any books that you need for the summer before Friday, May 3, as the project completion date is subject to change.
  • Monday, May 22: Expected completion of transition to new ILS. Library services are anticipated to return to normal operations.

We appreciate your patience throughout this process as we transition to our new ILS. While we understand the disruptions outlined above are inconvenient, we hope that informing you of key dates will help ensure that you do not find yourself in a position of being unable to access the library resources you need.

Please note that as the ILS transition is ongoing and relies on personnel from other organizations, key dates and disruptions to services are subject to change. Therefore, we ask that you please check the library’s ILS transition update page regularly. If you have any questions about the ILS transition and its effects on library services, please contact Dr. Millsap (mmillsap@mbts.edu) or Chris Vaughn (cvaughn@mbts.edu).