UK Libraries Replacing InfoKat Search System

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 9, 2015) — University of Kentucky Libraries will launch its new library search system, InfoKat Discovery, on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016. InfoKat Discovery will be a significant improvement to unified searching of scholarly resources including everything in the current InfoKat system, plus hundreds of electronic databases, e-journals, e-books, articles, archival resources and media all in a single search interface. 

InfoKat Discovery will replace the current InfoKat catalog, e-journals list, e-books list, Get Text services and WorldCat Local article searching on Jan. 20. UK Libraries will also add new digital resources, like ExploreUK and UKnowledge, to InfoKat Discovery.  

This move to a new system also helps UK Libraries gain processing efficiencies and provide a more user-friendly web-based system to locate and access physical and electronic resources.  

UK Libraries will debut its new website on the same day that InfoKat Discovery launches. The new design is based on extensive patron research and analysis. One of the primary improvements is that the website will now be responsive to different screen sizes, displaying appropriately whether users are on desktop machines, laptops, tablets or mobile phones. This will improve access to materials and services.

The site will also display hours for each library branch, incorporating updates for each day. Additionally, the new site emphasizes the ability to search and access collections, with the aim of aiding in all our patrons' academic endeavors.

The last day for recall and book express requests will be Thursday, Dec. 17, to enable material delivery before the winter break. If students need something between the old system and the new, they may place an interlibrary loan request to get it.

Course reserves will not migrate. UK Libraries will be linking the titles in the new system as fast as possible after the Jan. 20 live date.

The InfoKat catalog, Get Text service and A-Z e-journals list will be turned off mid-April, and the WorldCat Local service will be discontinued sometime in the spring as well. 

As the premier research library in the Commonwealth, UK Libraries provides ever-expanding access to quality information resources, services and programs. UK Libraries locations include the William T. Young Library, the Agricultural Information Center, the Hunter M. Adams College of Design Library, the Education Library, the John A. Morris Library (Gluck Equine Research Center), the Kentucky Transportation Center Library, the Lucille C. Little Fine Arts Library and Learning Center, the Medical Center Library, the Science Library, the Shaver Engineering Library and the Special Collections Research Center.

MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Hale, 859-257-8716; whitney.hale@uky.edu