SUBJECT:

UCSD Libraries Launch The Circuit

Are you looking for a book not available at UCSD? The UCSD Libraries,
working with their partner libraries, have created "The Circuit," a
combined library catalog that provides access to the records for more
than 3.4 million items in the collections of UCSD and three other San
Diego area university libraries -- California State University at San
Marcos, San Diego State University, and the University of San Diego
and its Legal Research Center. Using the Circuit, you can now request
books from other participating libraries that are not available
locally and have them delivered to your home library at UCSD.

To introduce you to the Circuit, Open House sessions will be held
every half hour on February 25 from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm and February 26
from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. All sessions will be in the HP Laboratory at
the Science & Engineering Library, which is located in the Geisel
Library. Library staff will demonstrate how to access the Circuit
catalog and make requests, and they will be available to answer
questions about the Circuit.

What items are available for borrowing? All books without borrowing
restrictions are available to borrow. Journals and photocopies of
journal articles are not included in this service.

Where do you access it? There are links to the Circuit catalog on
both the telnet and web versions of ROGER, the online catalog of the
UCSD Libraries. The Circuit catalog has the same easy-to-use search
interface as ROGER.

How do you request a book? You may place a Circuit request from any
terminal or microcomputer with access to the ROGER catalog, and you
will pick up the materials at the UCSD library you specify. You do not
have direct borrowing privileges while visiting another Circuit
library in person. To be able to request Circuit materials, you will
need to establish a PIN (personal identification number) through the
"View your own record" function on ROGER.

How long will it take for delivery? Materials requested by 10:00 am
will usually be available for pick up by 3:00 pm the same day.
Materials are delivered to a central drop-off point in Geisel Library
before delivery to the branch libraries for pickup, so there may be
instances when delivery of items to a branch library will occur on the
day following the request.

For how long may materials be borrowed? The borrowing period is three
weeks with no renewals allowed. You may request and check out as many
as ten Circuit items at a time. Circuit items will show up in your
personal library record, which can be accessed through the "View your
own record" function.

For more information about the Open House sessions, contact Maggie
Houlihan at 534-7573.

Gerald R. Lowell University Librarian