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Harvard choose Aleph |
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Following the failure of Data Research Associates,
Inc.
to deliver TAOS to Harvard for the next phase of their Holis project, Harvard have selected their previous second choice - Aleph. In the two years since the original decision, Aleph have produced clear track record in the USA and have covered all the original doubts of the Harvard team.
Other recent successes include Mississippi archives, Ticino canton in Switzerland, Minnesota state library network, Max Planck Society
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History makes History - Mississippi archives department
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CHICAGO, IL, Oct.31, 2000: The Mississippi Department of Archives and History, the second
oldest such department in the United States, has signed an agreement with Ex-Libris (USA), for the installation of an ALEPH 500 system.
Established in 1902, the department administers the following major public programs: state
archives and library, museums and historic sites, historic preservation, management of public records, and publications. The department`s Archives and Library Division collects, preserves,
and provides access to the state`s archival resources, including publications related to history of Mississippi.
H.T. Holmes, Archives and Library Division Director, noted, "We believe that ALEPH 500 will
give us the flexibility needed to meet our requirements. The Archives and Library Division has an electronic records archives section that appraises, accessions, and maintains archival electronic
records of state government. ALEPH 500`s adherence to open systems and standards, such as an SQL-compliant database and the ability to run Linux, will facilitate not only the long-term
preservation of archival information but also permit a seamless interaction with other network components already in place."
Mr. Carl Grant, President of Ex Libris (USA), said, "The Mississippi Department of Archives and
History made history by being the first of what we believe will be many North American museum and archival libraries that find the ALEPH 500 system an attractive and very viable solution for
making their collections available to a wider audience. We applaud MDAH`s vision in leading the way."
The ALEPH 500 system, which is scheduled to go live within six months, will accommodate six
staff users and 12 PAC users. The system will run on a Linux platform.
About Ex Libris Ex Libris is a leading worldwide developer of high performance applications for
libraries and information centers. ALEPH, the Ex Libris integrated library solution, has been installed at over 530 sites in 41 countries.
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Swiss Ticino canton chooses Aleph
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Locarno, Switzerland, Oct.31, 2000: The Sistema Bibliotecario Ticinese (SBT) today signed a contract with
Ex-Libris for the licensing and implementation of the ALEPH 500 library automation system
in the eleven cantonal libraries of the Swiss canton Ticino. In the next phase, Ticino`s school and college libraries will also join the ALEPH network.
The SBT consortium, a former member of the VTLS-based RERO network, will co-ordinate tasks
such as bibliographic data conversion with the Swiss Informationsverbund Deutschschweiz (IDS), the German-speaking library consortium. The IDS has been operating the ALEPH
software successfully for well over a year at major universities and public libraries in the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland.
Except for a small number of French-speaking libraries already using ALEPH within the IDS
network, SBT will be the first autonomous consortium in the non-German-speaking part of Switzerland to use ALEPH 500. Initially, the SBT will acquire licenses for 30 concurrent users, 64
Web-PAC users, and 10 Z39.50 concurrent-access users. The number of licenses is expected to increase as the system expands.
Implementation of the SBT project will begin immediately. Based on the current IDS version of
ALEPH 500, the system is scheduled to be up and running by the spring of 2001. In addition to French, it will feature an Italian version of the ALEPH Web PAC. The next ALEPH 500 upgrade
will include a full Italian version for SBT.
Professor Antonio Spadafora, SBT`s head of automation, commented that the selection of
ALEPH represented "a decision based on a careful evaluation of alternatives, our reliance on the positive IDS experience, and our confidence in the abilities and seriousness of the multinational
Ex Libris team."
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MNLINK chooses Aleph for statewide virtual library
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ALEPH 500 CHICAGO, IL., Nov.1, 2000: Ex-Libris (USA)
is pleased to announce that the state of Minnesota`s Library Planning Task Force, a 22-member body of citizens and library and state agency
representatives, has selected the ALEPH 500 system for the Minnesota Library Information Network (MnLINK). . The MnLINK consortium and information system is a collaborative effort
among libraries throughout the state to improve the quality of education, research, and economic development in Minnesota by connecting people, libraries, and information in a network of
unparalleled sophistication and efficiency.
MnLINK is a statewide virtual library that consists of an integrated library system (ILS) and the
MnLINK Gateway. The MnLINK Gateway is a mechanism to facilitate electronic access to many types of library resources, which include 17 other major automated library systems (representing
five other automation vendors) in the state. ALEPH 500 will provide a shared library automation system for libraries at the University of Minnesota, at Minnesota state colleges and universities,
and in state government. Participants will also include interested public libraries, private institutions of higher education, and some K-12 schools. A signed contract is anticipated by the
end of the year and the first installations of ALEPH will go live in June 2002.
Ken Behringer, Executive Director of MnLINK, noted, "Our vendor evaluation team (VET2)
determined that Ex Libris was the best choice to meet our demanding performance and functionality requirements while also providing a model which placed significant value on the
autonomy of the individual member library. In receiving this recommendation from the VET2, members of the Library Planning Task Force perceived that more libraries would be comfortable
with flexibility for the individual member library. ALEPH 500 was chosen as it clearly supported this concept."
According to Carl Grant, President of Ex Libris (USA), "The ALEPH architecture will enable MnLINK to provide Minnesotans with a truly state-of-the-art virtual electronic catalog that will allow
students, faculty, teachers, researchers, and citizens direct access to a collection of published knowledge far larger than available locally."
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Max Planck Society extends Aleph system
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The most prestigious research organisation in Germany, the Max Planck Society for the
Advancement of Science (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, or MPG), has chosen ALEPH 500 for the automation of its libraries and, to this end, has signed a licensing and maintenance contract with
Ex Libris (Deutschland) GmbH. This decision follows the successful implementation of ALEPH 500 in three Max Planck Institutes (MPIs) at Jena.
The new contract entitles all Max –Planck Institutes to connect to and use the central ALEPH 500
system at the MPG computing centre in Göttingen. In the first phase, 14 research libraries will be using Aleph.
The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science is an independent, non-profit
organisation that was founded in 1948 as the successor to the time-honoured Kaiser Wilhelm Society. The MPG is the umbrella organisation of 81 MPIs, which carry out basic research in
various fields of biology, natural sciences, medicine, the humanities, and the arts. The Institutes work closely with a number of universities. For more information on the history and structure of
the MPG, please look at www.mpg.de.
At this time, the 14 MPI libraries are being migrated to ALEPH from their BIS, BIS-LOK, and
other non-Ex Libris systems. The central ALEPH installation at the MPG computing centre is not a classical consortium solution; instead, each library will have its own database and system
administration. At each location, the number of licensed staff users (up to 25) and the software functionality will be determined based on the library's size and the specific local needs. System
support will be the responsibility of the MPG central computing centre. The ALEPH system at these MPI libraries will start to go into production during the summer of 2001.
The manner in which MPG has decided to use ALEPH will reduce library costs while allowing the
MPIs to continue working in an autonomous fashion with a uniform user interface. With the infrastructure in place, other MPI libraries may subsequently join their fellow institutions in opting for ALEPH 500.
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This month’s stories