In January 2020, York University Libraries implemented Omni, a new academic search tool. Omni was the result of a collaboration between 16 Ontario university libraries with the goal of expanding access to resources. In August 2021, York Libraries implemented streamlined requesting and borrowing from Omni partner libraries  providing enhanced discoverability for nearly 23.5 million physical resources. On May 2, 2022, the default search scope in Omni will change from “York Libraries” to “York Libraries + Omni Libraries”, making all this content discoverable by default.  

You can easily switch back to search only York Libraries’ resources by using the drop-down menu on the main search bar and selecting “York Libraries”.  

Faculty, staff, and students can request items from other Omni libraries. To do so, sign-in to your Library account and select “Get it from another Library” when York Libraries have no available copies. 

Requested items can be picked up at the Keele and Glendon book lockers or library service desks. 

Isn’t this the same as interlibrary loan?  

While YUL’s interlibrary loan service (RACER) allows you to borrow from libraries all over the world, this new service is an enhancement for several reasons:  

• Many of our requests are filled by other Ontario university libraries. This new service creates a more seamless ordering process for students, faculty, and staff that need to borrow items from the Omni partner libraries.  

• Print items borrowed from the Omni partner libraries have 120-day loan periods. Most items borrowed by interlibrary loan have a much shorter loan period (i.e., 3 weeks).  

Have questions?  

If you need help using this new service, send an email to askusyul@yorku.ca