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First Fruits of the Endeavor Information Systems / Elsevier marriage are announced as Endeavor customers get tighter integration with Elsevier full text products. NZ national library system wins an award, SUN works with Cornell to develop a digital library “center of excellence” and a new home study college selects Voyager
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Sun /
Cornell University Library - 'Sun Center of Excellence for Digital Libraries'
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ITHACA, N.Y. — Sun Microsystems Inc. and Cornell University have announced plans to
construct the technology platform that will pioneer the next generation model for digital libraries. In addition, as one of the leading adopters of digital library technology, Sun Microsystems named
Cornell the Sun Center of Excellence for Digital Libraries. Cornell University Library will serve as an international model for the digital library environment of the 21st century.
Partnered with Endeavor Information Systems
, the top-selling library automation vendor, Sun Microsystems technology is the incubator for the first full-featured digital library solution, ENCompass. ENCompass allows
libraries to digitize their vast collections through the use of a standard commercial package, thereby lowering costs to libraries. The Sun-Endeavor-Cornell alliance provides the critical next
step in realizing the new standard for digitizing library collections.
"Developing the technological, professional and economic infrastructure to manage the rapid
pace of current change is a tremendous challenge," said Cornell University Librarian Sarah Thomas. "This collaboration allows us to implement a diverse array of digital library services
ranging from multimedia publishing to basic research in the long-term preservation of electronic data."
Research libraries are at the center of a revolution in the creation, publication and distribution of
digitally processed information. Increasingly, libraries license and manage access to thousands of electronic publications and information services. They create digital collections based on their
own holdings and virtual collections by combining unique materials worldwide.
"The Cornell University Library has been a pioneer in such initiatives for over a decade," said H.
Thomas Hickerson, associate university librarian at Cornell. "Our combined relationship with Sun and Endeavor is particularly compelling as it allows us to move forward in realizing a new model
for research libraries."
The joint Sun-Endeavor solution allows libraries to implement digital collections through the use of a standard commercial package.
"Most academic libraries don't have the technology, expertise or budget to design, implement
and maintain a custom digital library application," said Kim Jones, vic
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Cornell Library'
H. Thomas Hickerson
(607) 255-9965
e-mail hth2@cornell.edu
Sarah Thomas (607) 255-3689
e-mail set9@cornell.edu.
Sun Microsystems
Terri Nissen
(650) 786-9722
e-mail terri.nissen@corp.sun.com
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e president for global education and research at Sun Microsystems Inc. "The availability
of ENCompass provides a road map for libraries wanting to digitize their collections."
Such developments allow the research library to function in its traditional role as an encyclopedic resource for the preservation
and dissemination of disciplinary and cultural materials while expanding its services to a networked environment that supports teaching, research and distributed learning.
"As more libraries turn their attention to organizing digital content,
Endeavor is there to provide a unified access system for information, regardless of location or content. ENCompass assists libraries like Cornell with a digital library solution," explained Jane
Burke, Endeavor's president and CEO. "We are proud to partner with Cornell, a leader in the digital library revolution, and we are pleased that Sun Microsystems is such a positive partner,
recognizing the future of digital libraries."
Currently Sun Microsystems technology is the dominant platform for library automation systems,
with more than 500 library installations featuring Endeavor Information Systems automated software solutions. Sun and Endeavor are strongly committed to the education market and
remain on the forefront of ongoing research and development of cutting-edge academic library technology.
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Patrick Henry college selects Voyager for remote access
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DES PLAINES, ILLINOIS, Aug. 2, 2000: Endeavor Information Systems
announced today Patrick Henry College of Purcellville, VA is installing the Voyager integrated library management system. Newly founded for Fall 2000
classes, Patrick Henry College is the first college in the United States targeted toward home schooled students.
The library, currently under construction, will open with 15,000 volumes and a large selection of
electronic databases to serve the inaugural student base. The College expects 100 students when the semester opens in October, with double that number expected the following year.
Patrick Henry College is geared for students who were previously educated in the home, and
uniquely implements a classic liberal arts structure curriculum base including studies of the Bible, great literature, debate, Latin, western civilization and history. Upperclass students complete an
intense apprenticeship in Washington, D.C., getting a real-life application of their studies. Participants in the apprenticeship program complete actual research on topics being discussed
on Capitol Hill, experiencing Washington's policy-making arena by working with Congressional staff, think tanks or policy study centers.
"We were looking for a library system that would be a total information resource system—a
flexible, interactive research tool that is as easy for students and professors to use as it is for the
library staff," commented George "Tad" Mindeman, Director of Library Services at Patrick Henry.
"We wanted a campus wide-resource instead of just a library tool. Our students will use these resources outside the classroom in their apprenticeship projects and Voyager gives them more
functionality."
"Our country was founded under the apprenticeship model, we believe very strongly in that,"
explained Bill Bloom, Patrick Henry's Director of Technology Services. Bloom explained the new campus is entirely wired: the on-campus apprenticeship work areas have phone and network
plug-ins, as do the college's dorm rooms, so students have access to the library's catalog and electronic resources from anywhere on campus at any time.
"Voyager and the client/server model are much more positioned in this industry for where the
technology is leading," Bloom commented. "The Web interface has been developed well for students to feel comfortable."
Mindeman also found Voyager's Z39.50 capability would be beneficial for the long run. "We
have the capability of connecting to other schools in the area or likeminded schools across the country that share our values—Voyager is a way to open up the gateway to what's out there. We
want to stress to students they have access to adequate resources."
"This is the chance of a lifetime to be able to do something from ground zero," Mindeman said
about creating a new library. "It reflects your strengths as a person and how you want your library to look for the 21st century."
"We are happy to see Voyager in an entirely new library at a brand new college, demonstrating
Voyager's ease of set up for established as well as new collections" commented Jane Burke, Endeavor's President and CEO. "Patrick Henry is definitely forward thinking in choosing
Voyager for remote access to all information, instrumental for apprenticeship students."
Patrick Henry College is accessible online at www.phc.edu for more information.
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Endeavor and Elsevier announce Web Editions for Voyager customers
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DES PLAINES, ILLINOIS, USA July 9, 2000: Endeavor Information Systems
announced today Elsevier's ScienceDirect Web editions will be offered to Endeavor customers through their Voyager integrated library
management systems. This access to the full text articles of Elsevier's 1200 electronic journals in the sciences, technology and medicine will enable Endeavor's customers to offer integrated full
text access to these journals from their library systems.
The integration of ScienceDirect Web editions with Endeavor's Voyager system is an example of
"content over Voyager," a strategic initiative to provide access to all types of data, including electronic journal content, through the local library system. Endeavor and Elsevier are
cooperating at a number of levels, and both companies are committed to making this vision of the digital library a reality. Library users benefit with the combination of full text access with other
titles in the library's collection for broader search and retrieval of research information, seamlessly from any workstation, local or remote.
ScienceDirect Web editions is Elsevier's introductory online offering of electronic journals. Print
subscribers can gain access to electronic versions of Elsevier's journals to their subscribed journals at no cost. ScienceDirect Web editions contain the PDF versions, and soon fully
searchable HTML versions, of articles published in Elsevier journals on a twelve month rolling basis. Web editions is designed as a current awareness service with desktop access to recently
published articles and as a beginning step to the digital library.
Voyager libraries will be able to access Web editions in two ways:
1.Article level access-- The index of citations and abstracts for the articles in Web editions is
being mounted as an Endeavor Citation Server database. This reference tool is being made available free to all customers and is housed and managed on a server at Endeavor
headquarters. Voyager customers will connect seamlessly through Voyager's public access module. The index can be configured as a database in any customer's system and can be
included in a simultaneous search along with other databases and catalogs in Voyager.
With article level access, the library's patrons have keyword access to all of the data in the
citation or the abstract. A single click takes them to the full text of the article on the Elsevier ScienceDirect platform for the journals to which the library subscribes.
2.Journal level access-- Endeavor customers can download a file of bibliographic records for the
Elsevier journals from the Endeavor SupportWeb site and import those records into their Voyager database. These records contain URLs to the electronic journals themselves. The URL
allows direct access to the electronic journal from the bibliographic record in the Voyager catalog for the journals to which the library subscribes.
In both cases, the Endeavor systems are treated as "trusted hosts" for access to the articles
themselves. A click-through license will be offered to the Endeavor customers. This license provides free electronic access to ScienceDirect Web editions for the journals to which the
library currently has a print subscription. Once that is activated, no further patron authentication is required to access the electronic full text articles on the Elsevier servers.
Those Endeavor customers who have also licensed Endeavor's Citation Server module have an
automatic check of the local library holdings for the journal, as well as all of the direct and algorithmic links provided by Citation Server's linking technologies. Even if the library does not
have Citation Server, it will have access to the citations and abstracts as a no cost reference database, as well as direct access to the full text electronic content for their journals.
ScienceDirect is the world's largest provider of full-text electronic databases of scientific,
technical, and medical information. Subscribers receive desktop access to the full text of nearly 1,200 journals representing more than one million full-text articles plus links to thousands more
journal articles published by Elsevier Science and other leading STM publishers.
ScienceDirect is a unit of Elsevier Science and part of the Reed Elsevier PLC group, a leading
provider of information to the STM, legal, and business communities. Visit www.sciencedirect.com for more information about ScienceDirect.
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Te Puna-Voyager project wins NZ IT award
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DES PLAINES, ILLINOIS, July 31, 2000:
Te Puna, the Voyager based National Library of New Zealand's bibliographic services project
has won a Computerworld Excellence Award in the Use of Information Technology in Government category. The award honors the NLNZ's implementation of the Voyager integrated library
management system, dubbed Te Puna, as a forward-thinking IT project delivered on time and under budget.
In production since June 1999, Te Puna involves over 10 million records in the NLNZ
bibliographic database (nbd). The NLNZ works with bibliographic records for nearly every library in New Zealand. The Computerworld newsweekly awards celebrate exceptional performance in
information technology across New Zealand. Computerworld highlighted the Te Puna project as "a world leader in technology, with a number of national libraries following in its footsteps" and
stated "the system provides a solid foundation for the development of a number of e-government initiatives."
The Computerworld judges commented, "We were particularly impressed with the overall
selection process, and the fact that the National Library made a decision to go for a proven package, but also one that was in the early stages of its life-cycle (not an easy balance to strike)."
The NLNZ chose Endeavor's system in July 1998, when Endeavor was a four-year-old company.
"Te Puna is a government IT success story and I'm absolutely delighted it has picked up this
prestigious prize. It shows the National Library is a leader in the in the field of electronic access to information," commented Christopher Blake, Chief Executive of the NLNZ. "Te Puna's flexible
technology enables the Library to meet the information needs of New Zealanders. It is integral to achieving the Library's core purpose of collecting, preserving and making available recorded knowledge."
"The success of Te Puna is widely hailed as a model for other libraries. It is a standard
compliant, a modern, easy to use library system which is being used by libraries across the information sector," Blake said.
The system encompasses Bibliographic database and bibliographic utility, including duplicate
detection based on field matches, copy cataloging for NLNZ's customer libraries via the Web and enhanced bulk loading of bibliographic records with holdings. Information resources,
including ultimate relevance ranking for full-text searching using a full-text algorithm, templated input with text prompts and transaction logging for copyright and charging for occasional users.
After the NLNZ's Voyager selection in July 1998, implementation plans began immediately. Y2K
compliance issues, vendor support concerns, maintenance of obsolete software and hardware/software rationalization issues promoted the Library's move to a new system. Voyager
replaced the WLN system at the NLNZ for the New Zealand Bibliographic Network and Kiwi Net database.
The NLNZ also extensively uses Endeavor's Citation Server, which provides searching for
remote citation databases and bibliographic databases, and ImageServer, which supports the scanning, indexing, access and printing of the electronic documents patrons demand and
libraries preserve. These additional products to the Voyager system help the NLNZ to provide full access to their extensive databases and image collections.
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