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Relais Addon Overview

About Relais​

Relais was acquired by OCLC in 2017 as a consortial borrowing service. The Relais service Atlas supports is Discover to Delivery or D2D. Each consortium has its own discovery interface, similar to a library catalog. The current most version of Discovery is version 3.0 which was released in 2018.

Who is using the addon?​

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There are several libraries that are members of more than one consortia (e.g., UBorrow, Borrow Direct, EZBorrow). To handle the workflow, these locations already have routing rules in place to determine which Relais addons the requests are sent to first.

Point of Contact for each consortium:

  • TRLN - Kelly Farrell
TRLN

Duke, NC State, and UNCCH

  • Duke University

    • Duke University Libraries

    • Ford Library

    • Goodson Law Library

    • Medical Center Library and Archives



  • North Carolina Central University

    • James E. Shepard Memorial Library

    • Law Library



  • North Carolina State University

    • NCSU Libraries



  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

    • University Libraries

    • Health Sciences Library

    • Kathrine R. Everett Law Library



ILLiad & Relais Integration​

ILLiad supports the Relais integration through client and server addons for TRLN.

Client Search Addon​

See **Relais Search Client**for more information.

  • After Relais upgraded to a new discovery layer, TRLN contracted Atlas to create a Relais addon version that supported and handled Discovery 3.0 and the new encryption methods.
  • Each item's URL contains the library's partnership ID for the consortia. When an item is requested, the addon will pass the request through a logic check that matches up the URL to verify the library utilizing the addon is part of the consortia.

Server Addons​

The server addons handle requests from both patrons and library staff.

Patron Requests-

Once the patron has clicked the item request link in the web, the server addon(s) will perform the following actions:

  1. Performs a FindItem API call (the Relais API method used to perform searches within the consortia).
  2. Sends the unique id or tag within the URL to the Relais addon.
  3. Moves the request to Awaiting OCLC Sending queue.

For information on the Awaiting OCLC Sending queue, see Routing Direct OCLC Requests with a Predefined Lending String.

Library Staff Requests-

Library staff can request an item within ILLiad via the Relais addon. In this case, the server addon(s) will perform the following actions:

  1. Performs a RequestItem call.
  2. Moves the request to Awaiting OCLC Sending queue.

Relais Server Addon​

Used by FindDWS and for Lending Processing.

  • Consists of two server addons:
    • FindItem addon- searches to see if the item is available locally or within the list of participating consortia libraries.
    • Lending addon- once the item has been found, the addon pulls in and formats the lending string.
  • Utilizes an OCLC style workflow.
  • A load leveler is used to determine which libraries within the consortia receive requests and when. This method will ensure one library isn't receiving all the requests.

Relais Requesting Addon​

  • Consists of only one server addon.
  • Performs a logic check of the institution's partnership ID to verify the library requesting the item is part of the consortia.