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Sirsi win major consortiums and first major UK Public

April 2001

Sirsi are taking their business into new areas via

• their iBistro OPAC offering that is consolidating material from a diversity of e-content suppliers - so much so that they now have appointed an e-content director.
• Winning large ASP contracts - INCOLSA
• Breaking into the UK public library sector
• Continuing to win large diverse consortia like Nebraska's ONE
• Winning major Corporate accounts - American Electric Power

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Sirsi win York Public Library and College

Sirsi, UK, April 2001

City of York Library Services and the College of Ripon and York St. John have jointly chosen the Unicorn Collection Management System to provide a Consortium Library Management System to replace their existing Genesis and Dynix library systems.

The Unicorn system will be installed on Oracle, using a SUN, Enterprise E450 server. The system will comprise Cataloguing, Authority Control, Circulation, Acquisitions, InterLibrary Loans, Outreach Services, Serials Control, Academic Reserves and Materials Booking together with a Knowledge Portal to external services over the Internet.  SmartPORT will be used to capture data from Z39.50 sources worldwide. York will be amongst the first sites in the UK to offer the new iBistro OPAC.  The City will also be the first SIRSI customer in the UK to use the i-tiva telephone renewal system from Talkingtech.

As Janet Thompson, Principal Librarian at the City of York said: "The City of York library and information service will be using Unicorn at all 15 libraries and on the mobile library. We are particularly excited about offering customers the new iBistro OPAC via the Internet."

Tony Chalcraft, College Librarian commented: "The College of Ripon & York St. John Library and Information Services will use Unicorn to further develop services provided to 4,500 students and staff.  The innovative iBistro will form the basis of a new user interface which will allow the closer integration of learning resources, whether print or electronic, in the learning process.  The College will open a new Learning Centre in 2003. Unicorn is a vital component in preparations for this development."

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 Sirsi  win INCOLSA - Indiana Consortium

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (May 3, 2001)

Sirsi Corporation President Patrick C. Sommers announced today that the Indiana Cooperative Library Services Authority (INCOLSA), a resource-sharing network for Indiana libraries, is the 1000th organization to select SIRSI to provide a centralized, client/server-based library management system.  INCOLSA has selected SIRSI.net, an ASP service that

INCOLSA previously used Brodart

provides a fully integrated library management system for libraries of all sizes and types, to provide easy resource sharing among the 27 libraries in its Indiana Shared Library Catalog (ISLC). Sommers made the announcement during his address to the 10th annual meeting of the Unicorn Users Group International, a users group formed and governed by SIRSI customers. Held in Huntsville, Ala., the UUGI annual meeting now attracts more than 500 SIRSI customers from around the world.

"We are proud to welcome INCOLSA to the worldwide community of SIRSI users," Sommers stated. "SIRSI now serves more than 6,000 individual libraries of all sizes and types - from small-town public libraries to large universities to statewide library consortia.  By selecting SIRSI, INCOLSA enables 27 Indiana communities to reap the benefits of the industry's most advanced library management system and electronic library technology."

According to Becki Whitaker, Information Retrieval Specialist, INCOLSA will use SIRSI's UnicornConsorti@ Library Management System on an ASP basis.  "We are confident that the SIRSI.net ASP service will save the libraries the cost both of purchasing equipment and of maintaining a system support staff, while providing all the technical and public services functions needed. Also, SIRSI's iBistro™ Electronic Library will enable libraries to offer unparalleled online access to knowledge and resources, as well as personalized attention, such as readers' advisory services."

INCOLSA was established in 1974 to provide a cooperative, statewide structure for information and resource sharing, thereby assuring that all Indiana residents receive the best possible library and information services.  As a library cooperative, INCOLSA is able to pool resources - many of which would be unavailable to libraries working individually - and provide services and support at a lower cost.

SIRSI.net enables libraries to connect an unlimited number of client PCs to a central integrated library system maintained by SIRSI.  Libraries need only an Internet connection and Web browser to access their data and the SIRSI software applications they have selected. Each SIRSI.net subscriber also receives the professional services of a SIRSI system administrator.  With SIRSI.net, a library receives a complete library system, without having to provide its own resources to manage the system.

Top SIRSI Appoints Content Development Director

Former Barnes&Noble.com director to establish partnerships for iBistro e-Library

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (Apr.  24, 2001)

Sirsi Corporation today announced that it has appointed Laura N. Dawson, an established leader in e-commerce site content development, as content development director for the iBistro™ Electronic Library. Reporting to Patrick Sommers, SIRSI president, Dawson will develop partnerships with leading electronic content suppliers to provide relevant, personalized content for the iBistro e-Library.

Using technology that Library Journal calls "groundbreaking," iBistro users view enriched content on library holdings (tables of contents, reviews, cover images, and more), create personal accounts, browse cataloged Web sites, and view e-Books and other electronic information-all from a single, simple interface. To provide all this content, SIRSI has already partnered with several companies, including Cahners Publishing, Syndetic Solutions, Inc., netLibrary, Northern Light, and LibraryHQ.com. "iBistro is widely recognized as the first technology that permits libraries to share 'e-commerce-like' information with their users," Sommers said. "We're integrating traditional library information with all types of electronic resources.  Laura's mission is to build relationships with leading content providers that will help us broaden and deepen the content available through iBistro. No doubt, Laura's experience with Barnes&Noble.com and others will be invaluable."

Dawson added, "There's great momentum behind iBistro, as more and more libraries recognize the power of e-Library technology. I look forward to working closely with SIRSI's library partners to identify content that will help them expand their service to patrons through iBistro. Working together, we can achieve our common goal of providing library users unparalleled access to knowledge and resources through one easy-to-use e-Library."

Prior to joining SIRSI, Dawson held senior positions in publishing, bookselling, and e-commerce. Most recently, she was director of content development for Barnes & Noble.com, for which she pioneered uses of magazine, book, and Web content.  She was also product manager for Muze, Inc., where she created and maintained content for Muze-for-Books. Dawson also benefits from earlier sales and management roles with Barnes & Noble and Commuter Books.

Top Nebraska's ONE Library Consortium Selects SIRSI

SIRSI's Consortia Customer Base Continues to Grow

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (Apr.  20, 2001)

The ONE Library Consortium, a cooperative of one community college library and two public libraries in northeastern Nebraska, has selected Sirsi Corporation's UnicornConsorti@™ Library Management System to provide area residents with easy, one-stop access to the libraries' combined holdings. According to Ted Smith, ONE Consortium coordinator, "After considering different systems, we decided that SIRSI's is the most flexible. It will meet our present and future needs. In addition, the iBistro Electronic Library makes a huge statement about SIRSI's ability to offer products that are simply ahead of the curve." The ONE Library Consortium joins approximately 25 other library consortia currently served by SIRSI.

Library consortia throughout the U.S.  and abroad use UnicornConsorti@ to provide easy Web-based access to combined resources, while enabling each member library to maintain its own local policies and procedures.  Patrick Sommers, SIRSI President, commented, "We are proud that ONE Library Consortium has joined SIRSI's growing number of consortia partners.  Since SIRSI serves individual libraries of all sizes and types, we have developed solid solutions for a wide variety of libraries. This is why UnicornConsorti@ has rapidly become the true system of choice for both mixed type and single type library consortia."

Established in 1999, the ONE Library Consortium includes the Norfolk (Neb.) Public Library, the Northeast Community College (Norfolk, Neb.) Library Resource Center, and the Columbus Public Library in Columbus, Neb.  The libraries have combined holdings of approximately 220,000 items and serve approximately 56,000 users in 20 Nebraska counties.

Smith commented, "After the SIRSI system is installed, library patrons in the Northeast Nebraska area will have access to the holdings of the community college and the two public libraries at the same time. And they will love iBistro-a powerful e-Library will make it so much easier for them to find information.  The book jacket images, summaries, and short author bios included in iBistro are great too-the library staff already love it!"

Top American Electric Power Company Switches to SIRSI

HUNTSVILLE, Ala.  (March 23, 2001)

American Electric Power Company, one of the nation's largest generators of electricity, has chosen Sirsi Corporation's Unicorn® Library Management System for its corporate library.  According to AEP's Knowledge and Research Services Coordinator Gerry Greenwood, "We evaluated a variety of automation systems, comparing stability, reporting function, intuitive serials management and MARC record handling capability.  We determined that SIRSI best met our operational requirements."

Greenwood said that while the library will benefit from circulation, serials management, and vendor interaction, the reporting function will prove particularly useful.  "Since our library operates on a self-sustaining basis, this function will help us to meet our obligation of providing statistical user activity information for accountability much more easily than we can now," Greenwood commented. "Having such flexible and responsible reporting will be important to our funding.  The new SIRSI system will also help with our substantial interlibrary loan activity."

American Electric Power is a multinational energy company based in Columbus, Ohio. AEP owns and operates more than 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity, making it one of America's largest generators of electricity. The company is also a leading wholesale energy marketer and trader, ranking second in the U.S. in electricity volume. AEP provides retail electricity to more than 9 million customers worldwide and has more than $55 billion in assets, primarily in the U.S. but also in select international markets. Wholly owned subsidiaries are involved in power engineering and construction services, energy management, and telecommunications.

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