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Ex-Libris (Deutschland) GmbH has announced that Ex Libris will soon be introducing a new,
high-performance automation system for small and medium-size libraries that unites the advantages of BIS-LOK and ALEPH 500. The new system, Alephino, has been designed to combine BIS-LOK`s rich functionality and
simple administrative handling with the modern system architecture and graphic user interface that have become a hallmark of ALEPH 500 worldwide.
Alephino is a client/server-based local system that will link GUI clients to the BIS-LOK database and also provide a direct connection to ALEPH 500
networks by means of a uniform user interface and homogeneous data administration. The system will use standard interfaces, such as Z39.50 and the Web, and standard formats, such as MAB2 and USMARC. Database
extensions and retrieval capabilities will permit the development of additional functionality. In addition, an integrated management module for serials and an international version are planned.
The Alephino server will run on Windows NT, UNIX, and Linux, and the client, on Windows 95, 98, 2000, and NT. The communication protocol will be
TCP/IP.
Ex Libris is planning to release its first Alephino beta version in the 1Q2000
BIS-LOK 5.0, released in April 2000, is the last version of BIS-LOK to be delivered before it takes its new form in Alephino.
Datinfor, our exclusive distributor in Portugal, proudly announces that it has signed up the
University of Lisbon as the latest user of ALEPH 500. The other major Portuguese universities running on ALEPH 500 are those of Aveiro, Minho and Porto.
The University of Lisbon is a very venerable institution. Although its exact foundation date is still
debated by historians, it is generally admitted that it was created as early as 1288 by King Dinis. It was transferred twice to the university town of Coimbra and reestablished in Lisbon in
1911 after the proclamation of the Republic, to accommodate its then existing schools of humanities, medicine, pharmacy and sciences. Nowadays, it reunites eight faculties, as well as
several research institutes and museums, with some 20,000 students and nearly 2,000 teaching staff.
ALEPH 500 will be implemented in the University's 20 libraries as a centralized consortium.
Implementation and staff training will be by Datinfor, overall project management by IBM-Portugal. Initially, the catalog will carry 320,000 records, 68,000 of which are periodicals.
The installation is scheduled to go into full on-line production by the start of 2001.
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