Our Services
Research Databases
KYVL currently provides access to over 30 licensed indexing, abstract and full-text databases. KYVL’s licensed database contracts provide Kentucky citizens access to over thousands of indexed publications containing over full-text resources as well as images and maps. The KYVL electronic databases, in the last year, logged more than 2 million searches per an average month during the academic calendar year, spiking to over 3 million at peak times.
If KYVL members pursued contracts for the same suite of databases offered by KYVL, annual cumulative costs would be close to $12 million.
Kentuckiana Digital Library
Kentuckiana Digital Library is a project with the mission of creating a permanently available digital collection of Kentucky-oriented historic materials. Collections and subsets of collections selected have a strong Kentucky orientation as well as broad appeal on geographic, content and study levels. The materials are unique or not widely available. Collections are proposed by archivists at the repositories based on their evaluation of the materials' appeal and appropriateness.
KYVL contracted with Digital Programs of the University of Kentucky Libraries to provide management of this statewide digitization project and the ongoing technological infrastructure for the Kentuckiana Digital Library. In this role, UK manages the systems infrastructure for the digital library, creates and conducts training modules on digital library technology and performs digital conversion of selected archival material from around the state.
Ground Courier Service
KYVL coordinates ground courier service to 177 public libraries and postsecondary institution libraries, both public and private, across Kentucky. Currently, a total of 444 “stops” or “pickups” are made at those 177 libraries. The primary focus for KYVL is to provide the same level of library services to distance learners as those provided for residential or traditional students. Central to this distributed system is the collaboration and cooperation of all types of libraries; KYVL has offered the ground courier service for interlibrary loan and course materials delivery to serve students and faculty both “on campus” and at a distance, as well as the citizenry for personal and workforce needs.
KYVL’s participating libraries include the eight public universities, KCTCS, 116 public libraries, the Kentucky Department of Libraries and Archives and 15 private institutions that have opted to purchase courier service via KYVL. By allowing the private postsecondary institutions’ libraries to participate, students and faculty of the public postsecondary institutions benefit from delivery of materials from those collections. Additionally, the citizens of Kentucky have the added gain of access to the same service used by academic and public libraries alike.
Library Applications
KYVL supports and coordinates the Voyager Consortium for Kentucky by funding and facilitating the Ex Libris Voyager library management system. The 19 participating academic and special libraries share Voyager, which is hosted remotely by Ex Libris in a private cloud. Each library has its own database but shares software and hardware on a single server located in the greater Chicago area.
Statewide purchasing and management results in significant savings and provides member libraries the best possible services at a lower cost than if implementing or maintaining a these applications on their own.