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How the transition to UC Library Search will affect you

Before you leave for summer break, here is a summary of how the upcoming transition to UC Library Search on July 27, 2021 will affect you.

UC Library Search will replace the local UCR catalog and Melvyl as the unified UC-wide search tool, allowing you to discover the collections of all 10 campuses’ libraries in one place. Each campus will no longer use its own catalog; this new platform will bring all of the UC campus libraries into the same system.

With enhanced features like single sign-on, UC Library Search allows you to borrow and renew materials without retyping your library card number, and without having to search in multiple places for different kinds of resources. It will maximize the value of the UC collections by making it easier for you to find and borrow items, thanks to improved inter-campus resource sharing tools and a simplified user interface.

Current UC students, faculty and researchers will also be able to pick up items from any UC campus, allowing you the option to choose the UC library closest to home as your pick-up location.

The best part is, UC Library Search will look and feel very similar to the catalog search tool that UCR has been using since 2018, but it will also have the expanded features mentioned above, and more. This should help to shorten the learning curve for UCR patrons.

Melvyl will be retired on July 27, after 40 years of use by the University of California Libraries. Before this happens, if you have saved lists, saved searches, or bookmarks to Mevyl records, then you should preserve these items as they will not be imported into UC Library Search. Follow the steps outlined here to save your data.

Additionally, during the data migration phase (“cutover”) from July 6 to 27, patrons will be unable to access their accounts and library staff will be unable to add new acquisitions to the catalog. Therefore, any UCR faculty who wish to request new resource acquisitions must do so either before July 5 or wait until after cutover is complete and UC Library Search has launched on July 27. For Course Reserves, please review the information on this page.

Library staff plans to release training materials for UC Library Search as we approach fall quarter.

Read more about the development of UC Library Search and other FAQs here.