Mount Allison becomes first institution outside of Nova Scotia to join Novanet Consortium

SACKVILLE, NB — Mount Allison University has become the first institution outside of Nova Scotia to join the Novanet Consortium of Academic Libraries.

Novanet, which includes 11 academic libraries across Nova Scotia, provides students, faculty, and staff of its member institutions with access to the collective resources of all its members through a shared integrated library system.

The addition of Mount Allison brings together over 7 million print and electronic resources. The Mount Allison Libraries & Archives added about 600,000 books, audio-visual resources, and serials to Novanet, including a world-class music collection from Mount Allison’s Alfred Whitehead Music Library and special collections of folklore and Maritime history.

“Joining Novanet represents a new era for Mount Allison Libraries, and a new direction for the consortium,” says Mount Allison University Librarian Dr. Dianne Keeping. “We are delighted to be on the vanguard of this expansion of Novanet, which brings a broader range of resources to students and researchers, not only at Mount Allison, but at academic libraries throughout Nova Scotia. We are looking forward to exploring the exciting new opportunities that this partnership will bring in the months and years to come.”

Novanet members collaborate on many initiatives to facilitate access to resources and enhance research and learning opportunities for students, faculty, and staff. Full borrowing privileges at all Novanet libraries, and the delivery and pickup of material at the Novanet location of the user’s choice, are just two examples.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for our library community,” says Novanet Chair Suzanne van den Hoogen. “Novanet gains the addition of new collections with a New Brunswick focus, as well as new colleagues with whom to share and develop initiatives. In addition, Mount Allison greatly increases the direct access to library holdings of the consortium for its students, faculty, and staff. Libraries are always finding new ways to collaborate, share collections, and find solutions — this is another example of that ethos at work.”

Novanet offers members access to library resources at Acadia University, the Atlantic School of Theology, Cape Breton University, Dalhousie University, Mount Allison University, Mount Saint Vincent University, NSCAD University, Nova Scotia Community College, Saint Mary’s University, St. Francis Xavier University, Université Sainte-Anne, and University of King’s College.

Students, faculty, and staff at any of the member institutions can use Novanet’s single search discovery tool to search the library catalogue across all of the library collections at the same time. They can also request books from other Novanet libraries and borrow books from other member libraries with their own institution’s library card. Community borrowers can also benefit from Novanet by getting a Novanet borrower card.

Members of the University community can access the Novanet catalogue through the Mount Allison University Libraries and Archives website.