PASCAL Delivers

ALERTS

PASCAL Delivers System Migration Live - June 1, 2020

As of June 1,  2020 , the PASCAL Delivers system is now live on the new statewide Alma/Primo platform. For additional details on this new statewide resource, please click here.
 

PASCAL Delivers System Migration Update

As part of the statewide SLSP migration, the PASCAL Delivers system is being migrated over to the new Alma/Primo platform. As of June 1, 2020 the public facing components of PASCAL Delivers will be taken offline permanently. This includes the PASCALcat union catalog (www.pascalcat.org) and the Encore discovery system (encore.pascalcat.org). These sites will redirect to a new landing page with information to assist users with the transition on June 1.
 

PASCAL Delivers Services Update

PASCAL Delivers patron requesting was suspended due to COVID-19 closings on March 16, 2020. Requesting and delivery will remain suspended through June 30, 2020, or possibly longer, depending on when member institutions reopen.
 

COVID 19 Update

In response to COVID-19 and library closings at member institutions, PASCAL Delivers service, including requesting and courier deliveries, was suspended statewide on March 16, 2020.

Due to extended COVID-19 closings and the statewide “home or work order” issued by the Governor on Monday, April 6th, patrons are asked to hold all checked out PASCAL Delivers materials at this time. Please contact your campus library for additional information on local policies.

For the latest updates from PASCAL, please visit: https://pascalsc.libguides.com/news/COVID-19.
 

PASCAL Delivers is a rapid book-delivery service provided by the Partnership Among South Carolina Academic Libraries which enables students, faculty and staff across the state to request and receive books from academic libraries in South Carolina. Over 12 million items are available in the catalog and books usually arrive within a few days!

And now, full text access from anywhere to over 300,000 PASCAL provided e-books is also available right from the PASCAL Delivers catalog!

User FAQ
 

What does PASCAL Delivers cost?

The PASCAL Delivers service is free to eligible borrowers at participating PASCAL libraries. 

What is in the PASCAL Delivers catalog?

The new search interface for the PASCAL Delivers catalog is available at http://encore.pascalcat.org (the classic interface is still available here). The PASCAL Delivers catalog is a combined, or "union" catalog -- a listing of over 12 million items owned by PASCAL member-libraries. The catalog includes books, PASCAL e-books, journals and periodicals, audiovisual materials, sound recordings, electronic resources, government documents, archives and manuscripts, maps, and music scores.

Who can borrow books using PASCAL Delivers?

Current students, faculty, and staff at participating libraries have access to PASCAL Delivers. Through the PASCAL Delivers catalog, books that are not available locally can be requested from other member libraries. Patrons must be “in good standing” at their home library (no overdue books or fines) in order to use the service. PASCAL patrons can also go to other libraries to borrow materials in person using the Visiting Patron service. 

How long can I keep a book I get through PASCAL Delivers?

PASCAL Delivers items can be checked out by patrons for up to 6 weeks and renewed for an additional 6 weeks.

How many books can I get?

All PASCAL Delivers users are allowed to have 50 requests; a “request” is defined as a book at any stage in the system. Outstanding requests that await a reply from a library are requests; books you have in your possession are requests; books you’ve returned to your library that are still en route to the owning library are requests.

Can I use PASCAL Delivers to get articles, videos, or items other than print books?

PASCAL Delivers provides request and delivery of print books from participating libraries and instant access to over 300,000 PASCAL provided e-books. PASCAL Delivers does not include request or delivery of articles, videos, or other items.

How is PASCAL Delivers different from Interlibrary Loan?

For users, PASCAL Delivers is faster. PASCAL Delivers is a patron-initiated system; the patron sends a lending request directly to a lending library without involving the patron’s home institution. The book will be sent to the patron’s home institution, at which point the patron's home library becomes involved with the process. By cutting out the library “middle man,” this system is faster and cheaper for libraries to use.

How do I check out books in person at another PASCAL library?

If you’re able to use PASCAL Delivers, you can also go in-person to visit another PASCAL Delivers library and check out the book yourself using the Visiting Patron service. Note that Visiting Patron checkouts have different limits from PASCAL Delivers patrons; in-person patrons are limited to three items and the checkout period for these items is three weeks with one additional three week renewal allowed. You will need to present a picture ID and know your institutional ID and the authentication code you use to request books using PASCAL Delivers. 

How will this service work for me?

From your home-library's web site, there will be a link to PASCAL's catalog.Your home library may be able put a "pass-through link" inside your home catalog, so that if you don't find what you want at home, your search is replicated in the PASCAL Delivers catalog. When you find a book you want, click the "request this item" link, select your home institution from the drop-down list, and enter your library card authorization. Your authentication number is something that you'll need to get from your home library. After you've entered your name and unique ID, you'll receive confirmation that your request was successful. In a couple of days, you will receive an email from your home library saying that the PASCAL book you requested is available for pickup. Normally you will receive your request in a few days, depending on the time of day of the request and other workflow factors. When you receive an email that the book is available for pick-up, take your library card with you and you'll check out the book from your home library. When you're finished, you return the book to your home library and they take it from there.

I'm a librarian, and I'd like to understand more about how this works.

There are two ways that a patron will "find" PASCAL Delivers. One way is through a link from a library's web site -- either because the patron found it on his own or because a librarian or a professor directed the student to the site. Another way to "find" Pascalcat is that a search in a local library catalog can offer a "pass-through link" to PASCAL Delivers. This pass-through-link only works if both library catalogs use the same software. For an example of a pass-through link, try a search in Clemson's catalog, and look for the PASCAL Delivers logo on the right.

Regardless of how the patron arrives at PASCAL Delivers, a student searches the catalog and, when she finds a book she wants, she clicks the "Request this item" button. She'll be asked which institution she's affiliated with, and she'll have to enter a locally-provided, unique identification number. If she has no overdue fines and if the book is "available" in the catalog, the request will go directly to the lending institution.

Every day, all libraries will download and print their incoming requests; requests that can be "filled" will be pulled from the shelf and sent to the patron's home library. Requests that can't be "filled," because a book is missing from the shelf, for instance, will be "rejected" -- if another copy is available at another PASCAL Delivers library, the request will bounce to the next institution.

Books are sent by overnight courier, so a book that's picked up at one institution on Monday is delivered to the borrowing institution on Tuesday. The patron's home library will "receive" the book and send an email to the patron notifying her that her PASCAL Delivers book is available for pickup. The patron checks the book out from her home library, and keeps it for six weeks with the option to renew for an additional 6 weeks. The book is returned to the patron's home library, and the process is reversed until the book ends up back at the home library. Patrons typically can request a book and receive it in a few days, depending on the time of day of the request and other workflow factors.

For additional information, please visit the PASCAL Delivers section on our member page.