During the COVID-19 pandemic, libraries have focused efforts on providing remote access to physical materials needed for instruction through digitization and Controlled Digital Lending (CDL). Over time CDL will become a central component of library services, not just as a platform during public emergencies, but as an ongoing service to support general learning, remote study, and accessibility. Materials that require “control” over their use include not just copyrighted material, but material subject to privacy and preservation concerns that are typically housed in special collections. Although born of the current pandemic, the Caltech implementation of CDL, Digital Borrowing System (DIBS), is designed as a first step in providing this broader set of public services. It is an open source application that is designed to be easily implemented in other environments. Similar to other recent CDL implementations, it combines metadata harvests from the local library catalog, SSO authentication, and the Universal Viewer for IIIF-encoded documents. Our presentation will discuss future developments, including integration with the open source FOLIO project, and an implementation of DIBS as a digital reading room for special collections.
https://caltechlibrary.github.io/dibs/
