Lambton County Library Services Continue to be Restored

Wyoming, ON - On Friday, May 28, 2021 The Corporation of the County of Lambton became aware of an incident that impacted its IT systems, which includes Lambton County Library.

As a precautionary measure, the County’s IT team immediately took a number of systems offline and began an investigation. It was determined that the issue was the result of a cybersecurity incident. The County retained leading experts to assist its IT team with bringing systems back online in a secure manner, and to assist with the overall investigation. The County has no reason to believe at this time that any information, including personal information, was impacted by the incident.

This incident disrupted a number of software applications affecting Lambton County Library’s network and services. Since Friday, May 28, 2021 library cardholders have not been able to access their library accounts or use various eLibrary applications. In addition, library staff are unable to operate online programs. 

The IT Department continues to work diligently to restore services. Library staff recently regained access to cardholder accounts and are processing reservations and returns received since Friday, May 28. Due to the outage, any reservations made between Monday, May 24, 2021 and Thursday, May 27, 2021 were not retained in the computer system.  Any library cardholders who made an online reservation between these dates are asked to call a library offering contactless curbside pickup during opening hours to re-reserve items, or submit another online reservation when full access is once again available. Cardholders continue to be unable to access their accounts at home.  The IT Department is continuing work in an effort to fully restore the system. Fines have not accumulated on materials and due dates have been automatically extended.

A number of eLibrary applications have been restored including:

• Cloud Library
• EBSCOHost
• Gale Courses
• Hoopla
• Libby
• OverDrive
• Tumble Book Library

However, some eLibrary applications remain offline.  As services continue to be restored, information will be updated at lclibrary.ca, by direct email to subscribers and through the Library’s Facebook and Twitter channels @LCLibraryca.

Lambton County Library apologizes for the inconvenience this incident may have caused.  The County of Lambton is taking this matter seriously and is committed to continuing to protect the privacy of all patrons.

For a full statement from The Corporation of the County of Lambton, click here: https://www.lambtononline.ca/en/news/county-of-lambton-resolving-cyber-incident.aspx