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April 2001

Ex-Libris win Melvyl contract

Another impressive coup for Ex-Libris as they win the contract to provide the next generation Melvyl - one of the pioneering benchmarks for automated library provision. Other major systems announced this month include the whole of Iceland academic and public libraries and the City of Science and Industry library in Paris.

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California Digital Library to implement Aleph 500 and SFX

Ex Libris (USA) Inc. has announced that a contract has been signed with The California Digital Library for the ALEPH 500 system and SFX to become the underlying technology for the University of California's Melvyl Union Catalog.

The California Digital Library and its University of California campus partners began a thorough process back in 1999 to investigate options to ensure the continuing quality of the Melvyl Union catalog, an essential and world-renowned resource and discovery tool for materials held in the libraries of the University of California campuses as well as those of several partners.  The contract is the result of an exhaustive RFP and evaluation of the vendors that responded, as well as extensive consultation with faculty, library staff, and the university community about their needs for online catalog services.

"The software from Ex Libris will provide the university community with several new features that do not currently exist in the Melvyl Catalog, while maintaining the functionality found in the current system.  Some key examples of this are content sensitive reference linking, a combined book and periodicals database, call number searching, multilingual character support, a general keyword search and better options for sorting search results.  In addition, a CDL system based on ALEPH 500 and SFX will provide a stable platform for future enhancements" said Beverlee French, Interim University Librarian and Executive Director of Systemwide Planning for Libraries and Scholarly Information, "The database design proposed by Ex Libris is one that preserves the Melvyl Catalog's sophisticated ability to merge like titles while maintaining the unique contributions of each union catalog contributor.  It will also be possible to add CDL "proprietary" features into the Ex Libris system, such as the Request service for interlibrary loans, links to circulation data from local campus systems, and an efficient command-line search option. Ex Libris' understanding of these functions and their commitment to develop solutions were other important factors in the selection."

"The library conducted a very comprehensive evaluation, and we are extremely proud to be the vendor of choice resulting from that process," said Carl Grant, President of Ex Libris (USA).  "This is an exciting time for Ex Libris (USA) as we continue to benefit from embracing new technologies like SFX, and partner with strategic libraries such as CDL who recognize the Ex Libris' technology as the best solution available"

The conversion to the new catalog will begin immediately and is expected to be complete in Spring 2002.  The current and new catalogs will run concurrently during a transition period until January 2003.

This Month’s Stories

[2001]
[Sirsi buys DRA]
[Swets/SFX]
[Sirsi latest sales]
[Web Feet]
[Ex-Libris win Melvyl]
[Endeavor - Australia]
[FDI win EEF]
[TLC/CARL]
[Inmagic Relevance]
[BTR printable trial]

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Top Aleph for the whole of Iceland

In this, the world's most northerly capital, a contract was signed today between Ex Libris and the Icelandic Minister of Education, Science and Culture for the licensing and implementation of the ALEPH 500 library automation system and Ex Libris' MetaLib and SFX software products.  The aim is for all libraries in Iceland to be served by a common and centrally operated system.

Iceland, about the size of Ireland, is sparsely populated with only about three persons per sq.km living mostly along the coast.  The interior of the country is mostly an arctic desert, punctuated with glaciers, volcanoes, geysirs and waterfalls. It has a strong economy and low unemployment.  It was settled in the 9th century and has the world's oldest legislature, the Althingi, established in 930 A.D.  Throughout the year, but mostly during the long winter nights, Icelanders, steeped in their treasures of old legends and sagas, love to read and learn. Hence their appreciation of well managed and funded libraries, whether public or academic, which the introduction of ALEPH will render even more performing and serviceable.  Icelanders are technologically advanced and around 80% of the population has access to a computer with an Internet connection.

The initial configuration of the ALEPH system is 550 staff and 330 concurrent web users, serving a community of some 170 libraries, including the National Library of Iceland, university, school, public and special libraries. This makes the project one of the most extensive ones ever undertaken by Ex Libris.

According to Bjorn Bjarnason, the Icelandic Minister of Education, Science and Culture, « this agreement supports our government's vision of intergrating all Icelanders into the modern information society. It represents an important building block towards embracing new technologies for education and research in our country ».

Arnor Gudmundsson, chair of the selection committee, states that "after a thorough evaluation process, we concluded that ALEPH 500, coupled with MetaLib and SFX, stands out as an excellent system for the comprehensive services we are building for our libraries and our citizens."

Azriel Morag, Ex Libris chairman, adds : "Having recently enjoyed a memorable touring visit to Iceland, which left us with unforgettably strong impressions of the dramatic beauties of the country and of its friendly and industrious population, I am particularly proud and pleased to welcome it as the 44th country in the ALEPH family. I wish good sailing to our Iceland project and thank the Minister and his colleagues for their confidence in our company and our products.  For our friends, librarians or not, who may want to visit Iceland or learn more about this wonderful island, I strongly recommend logging to http://www.iceland.org."

About Ex Libris Ex Libris is a leading worldwide developer of high-performance applications for libraries, information centers, and researchers.

Top Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie

Paris, March 22, 2000

Datapoint-France S.A., the exclusive Ex Libris distributor in France, has announced that the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie (City of Science and Industry) in Paris has signed a contract for the installation of ALEPH 500 in its multimedia library.

The Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie (www.cite-sciences.fr) has become a landmark of modern Paris.  Once known mostly for its sprawling slaughterhouses, the Villette area in the east of the capital is now world-renowned for this unique, modernistic museum of science and industry.  The Cité features spacious exhibition areas, a breathtaking planetarium, three-dimensional film projections on a 180° screen in the Geode theater (www.lageode.fr), and, not least of all, a state-of-the-art Médiathèque, or media library.

More than a library, the Médiathèque offers over 350,000 documents in print, electronic, and audiovisual media (including a unique collection of 3,500 films) in a space spreading over 8,000 square meters.  With over a million visitors per year, it is the most visited library in France after the new National Library, and caters to researchers, students, children, and all others interested in its many scientific, technological, and trade-related documents or animated instructional exhibits. The library is divided into several sections, which are dedicated to the public at large, children, the history of science, vocational and corporate-related information, and on-line access. In addition, the Médiathèque organizes a broad range of conferences, many of which can be viewed through remote access.

To render this unique library even more accessible and provide it with greater functionality, the Cité has chosen ALEPH 500 as a global solution to replace its Geac GLIS system. Datapoint, the exclusive Ex Libris distributor in France and a highly experienced manager of such major projects, will implement the installation by the fall of this year. To this end, Datapoint will provide data conversion and training services and will make videos from the library's collection available on the Web.  Datapoint will be working closely with Ex Libris and Archimed, a French developer of multimedia products that are to be integrated with ALEPH 500. The installation will include the new cross-linking reference software from Ex Libris, SFX (see www.sfxit.com).  Initially, ALEPH 500 will serve 150 concurrent workstations.

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