Wednesday, August 18, 2021
In 2019 the Library collaborated with 15 university partner libraries to implement Omni, an academic search tool, with the goal of bringing greater access to resources for students, researchers and instructors across the province. 
Since that time Omni has been the catalogue to search and access our collections, as well as those of our long-term partner institutions, Wilfrid Laurier University and University of Guelph.
As of August, the second phase of this project has launched and University of Waterloo library users now have expanded access to materials from all 15 of our partner libraries. Omni can be used to quickly and easily request resources from across the province, providing access to a collection of nearly 23.5 million resources.
What does this mean for current library users? Continue to use Omni as you have been to find the resources you need. Omni will now search the collections of all 16 partner libraries and when it finds an available resource, you’ll be able to place a request for access directly in Omni. For physical items, simply select your preferred pick-up location from the integrated ‘Get It From Another Library’ request form and have it delivered free of charge. You will be notified when your item is ready for pickup to borrow for the full 120-day loan period, the same as if you were borrowing a Waterloo item. While delivery times can vary due to a variety of factors, the anticipated average delivery time is 7 to 10 business days. Our goal is to reduce this delivery time as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.
We’re excited to be able to offer our staff, faculty and students access to resources from all Omni partner institutions. For more information contact us at libaskus@uwaterloo.ca.
