What is Summit?

Summit is the library catalog for the Orbis Cascade Alliance, a consortium composed of academic libraries in the Pacific Northwest. Through Summit you have access to over 27 million books, sound recordings, videos, and more. Not only can your items be delivered to Portland State Library's circulation desk, they can also be delivered to any of the other Alliance member libraries.   (If you want to pick up an item at another library, you need to establish a Summit Affiliate status with them and request the item from that library.)   

Summit items will usually arrive within 2-5 days from the time you submit your request.  You will be notified by e-mail when they arrive, and they will be held at the Circulation Desk for 7 days, filed under your last name.  They are checked out for 6 weeks and are not renewable.

Visiting another member library? Here is a map of Summit libraries.

Who Can Borrow?

Summit Borrowing is available to Portland State University's current students, faculty and staff members and to Summit institution affiliate members.  Summit borrowing is not available to non-credit students, community borrowers or the general public.  Distance Education students can become Summit affiliates at local Summit institutions.  (See below.)

Portland State Library's SUMMIT 2.0

Work continues to change the technical platform used for the Summit Regional Catalog, where you can request books and materials from other academic libraries in Oregon and Washington, members of the Orbis Cascade Alliance. The new beta Summit 2.0 catalog went live on December 1, 2008. 

The Summit 2.0 catalog makes it easy for you to find the resources that you need for your research. With one search, the new Summit catalog will present results from the collections of the Orbis Cascade Alliance's member institutions in Oregon and Washington, followed by results from libraries around the world -- in all, more than 107 million records for books and other materials.  You have the ability to easily narrow your search results by format, year, topic, language, and more.  Results can also be printed or saved as formatted citations in several styles, including APA, Chicago, and MLA. 

Summit Login

You can sign in to Summit at the beginning of a Summit Catalog search.  Please select the link "My Summit Account (sign in)" that appears in the upper right hand corner of the page.  This will send you to a drop-down menu powered by WorldCat, where you will choose Portland State University from the list.  From there, use your last name and University ID#/barcode to log in as usual.  

You can also access Summit through Vikat.  There is a link to the catalog on the first search page.  There is also a link "Send search to Summit" which appears at the top of the screen as you search for titles.  If you choose that option and go on to click the "Request Summit Item" box, you will then be asked to log in to Summit, starting with the drop-down menu.

 

 Summit FAQs

• In the new Summit interface, a feature called "My Summit Account" provides a list of material you have borrowed from other Summit libraries. These titles are not tracked and listed in your local Library Catalog (Vikat) account.  Log into your account using your last name in all lower-case letters, and University ID# (or library barcode if you don't have a University ID#). 

• Renewal of Summit items is not possible. However, the initial loan period for regular materials has expanded from three weeks to six weeks.

• Summit Affiliates:  To arrange to pick up your Summit materials from a different Summit library, you will be asked to present your PSU school credentials at the other Summit library in order to be "adopted" as one of that library's patrons. Once you are "adopted," you can submit and pick up your Summit requests as if you were the other library's patron.

If you'd like more information about Summit, read the FAQ below or ask a librarian.

Let us know if you have any questions by sending us a note via the PSU Library Comment Form (http://www.lib.pdx.edu/systems/suggestions.php).

Questions and Answers about Summit 2.0

Q.What happens when a request is accepted into the Summit system, but no Summit libraries can lend the item?  

Occasionally the catalog will indicate an item is available when it really is not.  This is because the "available" information does not live in real time.  In such cases, the request will be cancelled automatically and you will be notified by e-mail about this.  You can then decide whether or not to resubmit the request as an Interlibrary Loan (ILLiad) request to try to obtain it from libraries outside of Summit.  If you do submit an ILL request, please make a note that it was not available through Summit.

Q.  Can I request something through Summit that the Portland State Library holds on its own shelves? 

If something is available locally, the system will allow the request to be submitted, but you will later receive an e-mail notice advising you that the request has been cancelled.  Please visit our Distance Education Services page to check for other options.

Q. Are other academic library consortia making similar changes to their catalogs?

A. The current upgrade of the Summit Regional Catalog builds on work recently done by libraries in the University of California system to successfully enhance their unified catalog.

Q. Tell me more about the Orbis Cascade Alliance.

A. Serving over 211,000 students throughout the Pacific Northwest, the Orbis Cascade Alliance is a library consortium involving 36 universities and colleges. Through the Summit catalog, Alliance members share about 400,000 books and other items a year -an average of over 1,000 a day! Per student, the Orbis Cascade Alliance has higher circulation than any other similar library consortium in the U.S., and is nationally recognized for its speed of delivery and successful fulfillment rate.

Last updated Oct 23, 2009.