One of the many benefits of SHARE membership is the access it provides to consortial e-resources. Members are eligible to participate in group purchases to share the cost of a yearly subscription fee or to receive a special discount. Participants in SHARE E-Resource consortia also benefit from free training, technical support, and assistance with promotion and patron instruction.
Effective July 1, 2024, all SHARE libraries belong to the cloudLibrary shared collection which provides access to over 75,000 digital items. This program was originally funded by the eRead Illinois grant provided by the Illinois State Library. SHARE Staff are dedicated to expanding these offerings for all library types within SHARE and IHLS. To learn more, click on the links below or contact Danielle Horton, SHARE Resource Sharing Specialist.
The SHARE E-Resources Committee provides guidance for the e-resources and resource sharing programs, with final decisions approved by the SHARE Executive Council or by member vote. On June 2, 2022, SHARE Executive Council approved revised cloudLibrary Collection Development Guidelines and we now have a cloudLibrary Request for Reconsideration Form should a patron wish to have SHARE reconsider items in cloudLibrary.
CloudLibrary Frequently Asked Questions
How many items can I have checked out or on hold at one time?
Patrons can have up to five items checked out and six items on hold.
How long can I keep an item on CloudLibrary before I have to return it?
Each item is loaned for a maximum of 21 days.
If an item I reserved becomes available, how long do I have to check it before it moves to the next person in line?
When an item on hold becomes available, it must be checked out within three days. If not, it becomes available to the next patron in line and you will need to join the queue again.