Partenariat des bibliothèques universitaires du Québec
The Partnenariat des bibliothèques universitaires du Québec is a joint initiative between 18 university libraries in Québec and the Bureau de coopération interuniversitaire (BCI), providing students across all institutions access to a shared catalogue and data platforms.
About
The Partnenariat des bibliothèques universitaires du Québec (PBUQ), unveiled by the Bureau de coopération interuniversitaire (BCI) in October 2019, is a partnership between 18 universities in Quebec to provide its scholarly community with three new digital platforms, including a Shared Services Platform (SSP).
Sofia, the SSP, is a bilingual catalogue consolidating the collections of all 18 partner institutions that will provide Concordia Library users with access to more than 20 million items and serve as a single portal for searching, accessing and requesting material across the member universities.
In addition to Sofia, the partnership has created two digital platforms, Géoindex and Dataverse.
New features
Simplified research
With a single search portal shared by the 18 institutions, Concordia Library users will immediately know what items are available at the Concordia Library and at which other universities they can be found. These search results also extend to other libraries in Quebec and Canada and internationally.
Bilingual platform
The new shared catalogue will be available in both French and English, with library users being able to conduct their search in either language. This will also give users increased access to partner libraries’ collections in both languages.
Amnesty of library fines
Since the closure of the Library on March 13, 2020, no new fines have been accrued on users’ accounts for borrowed items. The Library is also forgiving fines accrued before March 13.
With the migration to Sofia this summer, any existing fines for items borrowed from the Concordia Library (with the exception of equipment) before March 13 will not be transferred to the new system. All library fines will be forgiven for this period.
Automatic renewal of loans
The process of renewing items on loan will be more streamlined with the platform and will allow users to borrow a larger quantity of items. Library users will now be able to borrow up to 100 print items for a 30-day period. These will be renewed automatically by the system as long as they have not been reserved or recalled by another user and the account is in good standing.
More information is available on the PBUQ website.
