SACRAMENTO – The California Community Colleges launched a cloud-based, system-wide Library Services Platform, or LSP, that will more effectively connect all students with the most useful, high quality resources in a single collection.

The platform will replace the various library systems currently used by participating community colleges in the state.

Through the Library Services Platform, students will have access to technology that is not currently available across the community college system, with improved search capabilities, check-outs, overdue book issues, interlibrary loans, and reserves, all available in a modern, mobile-friendly environment.

“This opens opportunities for unprecedented digital and physical resource sharing across the state, increasing all students' access to quality library resources,” said Barney Gomez, vice chancellor of digital innovation and infrastructure for the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. “Students who take courses at more than one college will now experience very similar search interfaces, making it easier to navigate library collections across the state.”

The value of the LSP will also be enhanced at the staff level, providing better systemwide access to resources covering patron records acquisitions, materials processing, licensing, electronic resource management, cataloging, inventory, analytics, interlibrary loans, reserves and more.

These shared records and processes across the system will afford opportunities for streamlined workflows, making it possible for colleges with limited staff to more directly meet student needs.

“The Library Services Platform is a great example of how the Council of Chief Librarians, the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office and vendors pulled together to implement a solution that benefits our colleges and students,” said Doug Achterman, president of the Council of Chief Librarians for the California Community Colleges.

To date, 110 of California’s 115 community colleges have committed to participate in the systemwide implementation that begins this month. The effort aligns with the California Community Colleges Vision for Success and its commitment to encourage innovation in the pursuit of closing achievement gaps.

For more information, visit https://ccctechcenter.org/projects/library-resources .

The California Community Colleges is the largest system of higher education in the nation, composed of 73 districts and 115 colleges serving 2.1 million students per year.