Fretwell Downing, Inc. enables
the California Digital Library to extend its vision of
"One University – One Library"

The California Digital Library recently expanded its interlibrary-loan Request service to include new user and staff functions.  It accomplished this major step forward in campus-wide resource-sharing by partnering with Fretwell- Downing, Inc., the standards-based digital library company based in Atlanta, Kansas City, and England.

"Adding Fretwell-Downing's technology to the University of California's suite of inter-library loan tools is a great way to share collections among the ten UC campuses," says Beverlee French, the California Digital Library's Interim Executive Director. She adds, "Now a researcher or student at any campus will easily be able to request materials from any other campus, check the status of the request for print materials, and often receive the items via online desktop delivery."

The California Digital Library selected Fretwell-Downing's services because it needed a system to provide all the functionality that its current ILL systems offered, plus a complete integration of all ILL work flow processing. This required:

•  sophisticated configuration capabilities
•  a variety of request initiation methods
•  staff interfaces for responding to requests
•  various management reporting capabilities
•  integrated online delivery functions

Another great feature created by Fretwell-Downing's software is that it lets the UC library ILL staff handle growing volumes of loans and concentrate on service enhancements. What's more, with the new "Open URL" technology, the extended UC ILL services can include materials found in commercially-produced article databases licensed by the California Digital Library.

As a digital "co-library" complementing the physical libraries of the University of California system, the California Digital Library is committed not only to digital content, but also to using technology innovations to share library resources among the more than 315,000 members of the University community.

For more than ten years, Fretwell-Downing, Inc. (FD Inc.) has been a global leader in the evolution of digital libraries.  Delivering unmatched service and flexibility, FD Inc. offers libraries a seamless choice of standards-based solutions.  Building toward a solid vision of a "library without walls," FD Inc. boasts the unique ability to integrate with disparate electronic library systems, as well as creating and managing entirely new digital systems.