Expanding Access for the Campus Community
Published on December 14, 2020
Earlier this year, Western Libraries became a member of HathiTrust, broadening student and faculty access to scholarly research as this global collaborative holds the largest set of digitized books managed by the academic, research, and library community.
Now, as HathiTrust members, Western Libraries will institute the non-profit’s Emergency Temporary Access Service (ETAS), designed for members impacted by an unexpected or involuntary, temporary disruption to normal operations that limits print collection access. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, locally and across the globe, Western Libraries is effecting ETAS in January 2021, led by an implementation group under the supervision of the Associate Chief Librarian, Content, Harriet Rykse.
“With the significant move to online learning due to pandemic circumstances, almost 25,000 students are not on campus – many are not even in London – and therefore can’t retrieve physical materials to assist in their learning,” explains Harriet. “Through ETAS, the greatest number of people will have access to the content they seek.”
What does ETAS mean for Western students and faculty?
- ETAS will make about a third of Western Libraries in-copyright print monograph collections available digitally (760,000+ volumes).
- Our digitization service does not change with ETAS implementation. You can still request a physical book chapter or article for scanning and have it emailed to your inbox.
- In compliance with copyright law, books available through ETAS are read-only and the print version is not available through our no-contact pick-up service.
- Completed ETAS implementation is expected early in 2021. Western Libraries will evaluate ETAS after the winter 2021 term, to determine its continued use for the summer. This process will include feedback from students and faculty.
Have questions about ETAS or Western Libraries’ HathiTrust membership? Email library@uwo.ca and let us know.
