Alma Digital Interest Group

There are many benefits that the Alma-D Working Group will provide to the user community. The Alma-D mailing list is a valuable resource for users of the product through it’s ability to help share ideas, issues, and workarounds that have been identified. The Alma-D WG will coordinate the enhancement process with IGeLU and Ex Libris.

Controlled Digital Lending (CDL) encompasses practices and technologies that allow libraries to loan print books to digital patrons in a “lend like print” fashion. The resources on this site help libraries understand the legal framework of CDL, advocate for it, and build a community of expertise around its practice.

Controlled Digital Lending Implementers (CDLI) was established in April 2020 when a group of collaborating libraries, consortia, software developers and resource sharing leaders came together with a shared goal of implementing controlled digital lending services within our respective communities. This effort was spurred by the urgency of the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused libraries around the world to close their buildings, dramatically reducing access to physical library collections. Several pandemic-related emergency initiatives that approximate certain aspects of CDL exist, but widespread and sustainable approaches to controlled digital lending applications have not yet taken hold in which libraries have the means and support for mediated CDL as part of everyday operations.
CDLI will operate as a discussion forum, allowing implementers to coordinate and plan for development efforts that will meet the distinct needs of individual institutions wishing to implement CDL for their communities, while taking into account the larger technology and services ecosystem to avoid duplicated efforts.