NExpress, one of the interschool library-loaning systems Bowdoin uses, will be retired in May. April 30 is the last day that schools can request books from NExpress and all items will be due by the end of May.

NExpress started in 2005 as a consortium between Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, Wellesley, Williams and Northeastern University. At its peak, the group had seven members, but only Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, Middlebury and Wellesley remain.

“It was a joint decision between the five libraries to do this,” said Access Services Assistant Jaime Jones.

Students will still be able to check out books from other libraries through the Interlibrary Loan Service (ILL), as well as the CBBcat and MaineCat services.

Through CBBcat, the College already has the ability to easily get books from Bates and Colby. Music Librarian and Coordinator of Research & Instructional Services Karen Jung said that patrons should still be able to get books from Middlebury and Wesleyan through ILL.

ILL allows patrons less control over where their books come from compared to NExpress, but provides other features, such as enabling patrons to view their order history.

“You don’t have to know who owns a book or where it’s available or any of that stuff, you just put in a request and ILL will take care of everything for you,” Jones said. “We’ll figure out the best library to get it from, the fastest library to get it from.”