Changes are coming to how members of the campus community can access resources through Chalmers Library due to a library services platform migration project.
The initiative will temporarily impact access for all users — students, staff and faculty — to the tools known as Ksearch, CONSORT and OhioLINK in the coming weeks. By the end of June, resources that can be searched for using the three platforms are expected to be available through a single Ksearch interface.
The ability to request materials through OhioLINK will pause May 23, while CONSORT — an online catalog limited to Kenyon, the College of Wooster, Denison University, and Ohio Wesleyan University — will be impacted starting June 10.
A separate tool that provides access to materials at public libraries around the state, SearchOhio, will pause May 23 as well and resume sometime in the fall.
Important Dates
- March 28, 2025
Period of limited purchasing of materials for Kenyon begins to end on "go live" date - May 23, 2025
All OhioLINK and SearchOhio requesting and borrowing is temporarily paused until "go live" date - June 10, 2025
Limited borrowing of Kenyon materials begins on this date and ends on "go live" date - June 25, 2025
New KSearch site goes live and OhioLINK requesting and borrowing resumes two days later (CONSORT is retired) - Fall 2025 (Date TBD)
SearchOhio requesting and borrowing resumes
“It is just a massive project,” said Chris Hudson, director of collections and access. “It’s a much more modern system that is hopefully less complicated for the user. There will be one place to go and search for everything.”
The library services platform migration project was initiated in 2023 by the OhioLINK academic library consortium, which offers access to materials from 117 academic libraries across the state. This is the first major software overhaul of its kind to be performed in over 25 years.
The revamped Ksearch tool — which previously was limited to content at Kenyon and Ohio 5 schools — will allow users to search and request materials previously accessed through OhioLink. The new tool is scheduled to go live June 25, with requesting and borrowing resuming two days later.
Using the new system, all content- and title-level searches for all formats will begin with Ksearch, which can direct users to the most efficient access. KSearch also will replace CONSORT as the resource for monitoring users’ library accounts.
OhioLINK and the other catalogs will remain visible and searchable throughout the process, and even when online borrowing is paused, materials can still be borrowed by contacting library personnel at Chalmers, Hudson said.
The library will continue to share updates on the progress of this project and will provide more details as they become available. More information from the library is available online.