SHAREit: Smarter ILL, Broader Reach and a Better Experience for Every Library
What’s new and why it matters to your interlibrary loan implementation
If you rely on SHAREit for interlibrary loan (ILL) resource sharing, the past year has been a landmark year for SHAREit. Our SHAREit team has been hard at work delivering a wave of meaningful user-group driven upgrades, not just technical refinements, but real, practical improvements that make ILL smoother, faster and more accessible for library staff and users alike. Whether you manage a statewide consortium, a regional network or a standalone library, the recent updates rolled out have been designed to reduce friction, expand access and give you more control.
Here’s a closer look at what’s new and why it should excite you.
Standalone SHAREit: ILL for Every Library, Not Just Consortia
That gap is now closed. Standalone SHAREit gives individual libraries direct access to a network of 900+ participating SHAREit libraries immediately expanding the interlibrary borrowing and lending universe without requiring consortium membership. For libraries feeling the financial pressure of escalating costs or those simply excluded from regional systems due to technology constraints, this is a genuine game-changer.
The bottom line: No consortium? No problem. Give your patrons the same breadth of resource sharing access as any large library system.
Stronger Z39.50 and NCIP Integration: The Backbone of Reliable ILL Just Got Better
Behind every smooth ILL transaction is a reliable data exchange protocol. SHAREit has significantly strengthened both Z39.50 and NCIP integrations, ensuring more dependable communication between SHAREit, external LMS platforms, and discovery layers.
These latest enhancements provide a more seamless hand-off between your LMS and SHAREit that reduces the manual steps staff have to perform. What does this mean in practice? Faster and fewer dropped transactions.
For libraries that have already invested in interoperability between their LMS and their resource sharing platform, these improvements protect and enhance that investment.
WorldCat Record Display Enhancements: Find the Right Lender Faster
Speed matters in interlibrary loan. SHAREit has upgraded how 948 MARC tag holdings data is displayed, presenting information in distinct, clearly formatted lines with country and state abbreviations for each lending institution.
This clarity and organisation directly translates into faster fulfillment with immediate results: staff can scan lender options at a glance, prioritise geographically proximate or preferred institutions, and move requests forward without digging through cluttered data. It’s a small but powerful improvement that adds up across thousands of ILL transactions per year.
Multiple Lender List Management: Precision Routing at Your Fingertips
SHAREit has long been recognised for its powerful lender list functionality, and our recent enhancements takes it to the next level. Libraries can now create and prioritise multiple distinct lender lists Preferred, System Wide and fully Custom groupings and set granular routing rules for each.
Key capabilities include:
- Ordered or randomised routing for balanced load distribution across lenders
- Automated continuation rules that seamlessly transition between lender groups when a list is exhausted
- Blocked lender management to automatically exclude problematic institutions
- Custom priority hierarchies that reflect your consortium agreements and operational preferences
- Control over whether requests stop after a given list or roll forward to the next
This level of precision means fewer unfulfilled requests, better adherence to local policies, and a resource sharing workflow that operates more like a finely tuned system than a series of manual decisions.
Non-Returnable Lender List: Smarter Handling for Serials and Copies
Managing non-returnable materials, journal article copies, scanned chapters and similar items has always required a different workflow from standard ILL lending. SHAREit now features a dedicated Non-Returnable Lender List, automatically sequenced after Preferred and System Wide lists and fully customizable to fit local policies.
By separating non-returnable materials into their own routing logic, SHAREit reduces the risk of misrouted requests, keeps workflows clean, and ensures that staff aren’t manually intervening to redirect what should be an automated process. For any library handling significant volume of document delivery alongside traditional ILL, this is a welcome efficiency gain.
Centralised Lender Administration: One Dashboard to Rule Them All
Managing multiple lender list types (Preferred, System Wide, Network, Blocked), used to mean navigating multiple interfaces and settings screens. SHAREit has unified this experience into a single, centralised administration dashboard.
Beyond consolidation, this update brings increased automation to request routing, policy application, and status management by reducing the number of manual steps staff must perform on a daily basis. For ILL coordinators and library administrators, this means less time on housekeeping and more time on higher-value work. For the library as a whole, it means a more consistent, policy-compliant resource sharing operation.
Accessibility and Compliance: ILL That Works for Everyone
As a core library value, accessibility isn’t a checkbox. Recent SHAREit updates reflect a meaningful commitment to making the platform usable and welcoming for all staff and users, regardless of ability or assistive technology needs.
This round of improvements includes:
- Refined layouts, navigation and color contrast to meet current accessibility standards
- Improved form labeling and responsive design for better usability across devices
- Enhanced readability with better field label alignment in Full Record Display
- Clear visual indicators for suppressed and inactive items and material types, helping to reduce confusion and staff error
These updates align with WCAG 2.0 standards and reinforce SHAREit’s commitment to Section 508 compliance important for academic, government and public library environments where accessibility requirements carry real weight.
The Big Picture: SHAREit Is Built for the Way Libraries Work Today
Taken together, our recent updates to SHAREit represent a platform that has become more capable, more inclusive, and more intelligent with every release. Whether you’re processing hundreds of ILL requests a day or just getting started with resource sharing, these improvements are designed to deliver real ROI with staff time saved, improved patron satisfaction and in the breadth of collections your library can offer.
North America’s most popular ILL consortia resource sharing system isn’t resting on its reputation. SHAREit is innovating and your library stands to benefit.
