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Faculty and Staff Resources

What is OhioLINK?

OhioLINK is a statewide consortium consisting of 120 academic libraries and the State Library of Ohio.  It grew out of a 1987 recommendation for the library committee of the Ohio Department of Higher Education that "the state of Ohio implement, as expeditiously as possible, a statewide electronic catalog system."  That recommendation was fulfilled in 1992 when six universities installed OhioLINK systems and began building the OhioLINK (central) catalog.  That catalog remains the backbone of OhioLINK and now lists some 46 million books and other library materials.  The Hiram College Library joined OhioLINK in 1997.

OhioLINK Small Scale logo

 

Borrowing Books

Borrowing books through OhioLINK is easy.  We recommend you first check the Hiram College Library catalog and if you don't find what you need, just click on the OhioLINK button at the top.  That will recreate in the OhioLINK central catalog your most recent search.   Once you find the item you wish to borrow:

  1. Click or tap the green Request button
  2. Choose Hiram College from the pulldown menu
  3. Type in your name and your barcode (the 14 digit number on the back of your Hiram ID).  If you do not have a barcode, or ID, please contact us.
  4. Select the Pickup Institution and Pickup Location.  The default is Hiram College, but faculty on sabbatical may opt to have the items delivered to a closer OhioLINK library.  Pickup Location is only important when an institution, such as Cuyahoga Community College, has multiple branches.  Location allows you to choose the nearest branch.

Generally, it takes 3 to 5 days for a book to arrive.  When it is ready for you to come check it out, you should automatically receive an email in your Hiram College email account.  Please return the book to the library where you checked it out.

You may also check out books directly from another OhioLINK library by using your Hiram ID.

E-Resources

From the beginning OhioLINK has used its collective purchasing power to provide electronic resources.  Today those electronic resources have grown enormously and can be found in the following OhioLINK "centers":

  • Research Databases - OhioLINK libraries work together to subscribe to more than 100 databases.  These are all listed in the Hiram College Library Databases A-Z list.
  • Electronic Journal Center (EJC) - Contains more than 29 million articles.
  • Electronic Book Center (EBC) - Contains more than 186,000 e-books.  Most of these are also listed in the Hiram College Library catalog.
  • Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center (ETD) - Contains more than 58,000 theses and dissertations from participating Ohio institutions.
  • Digital Resource Commons - Contains some 46,000 images and videos
  • Music Center - Contains 81,000+ tracks from Naxos 

SearchOhio

SearchOhio is a consortium of a number of Ohio public libraries. SearchOhio functions much like a public library version of OhioLINK.  The two catalogs are linked so that you may also request items from the SearchOhio catalog.  It is particularly useful for fiction and media.

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