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ISSN 1463-7146 |
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At the real start of the millennium, Innovative Europe have announced a series of prestigious sales - the National Library of South Africa and the Sorbonne University in Paris stand out - but the other wins are equally important - showing that the unique Java-centric features of Millennium continue to impress libraries.
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[Biblio Tech Review] |
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The National Library of South Africa was formed in 1999 following the merger of the two former South African national libraries; as an agency operating in the information and knowledge industries, innovation is crucial to its operation. The library systems in use at the two former libraries were outdated, and interoperability was seriously impaired by incompatible cataloging systems. A single, modern, integrated library management system was crucial for the new institution. An evaluation study was undertaken by a team consisting of members of the senior management of the National Library as well as representatives of the South African library and information services community, which is served by the National Library. Dr. Peter Lor, National Librarian, said, "Our final choice fell on Millennium, following extensive on-site research of institutions in South Africa using Innovative's systems and another short-listed library management system. Millennium was found to be a stable, low-risk, turnkey system with good functionality and technical capability. Innovative demonstrates an ability to keep pace with rapidly changing technology and has a good track record of smooth, successful implementations in South Africa and a high level of support to local customer libraries." "We are delighted that the National Library of South Africa has decided to replace its old Aleph and Dobis systems with Millennium," said Mark Carden, Innovative's Director of International Sales. "This exciting new project gives further impetus to our commitment to be the top library systems supplier in Southern Africa, and to demonstrating that we are the supplier of choice to national libraries worldwide." Innovative Interfaces (www.iii.com) is a leader in providing Web-based automated library systems. Innovative's library automation systems are installed in thousands of libraries in 27 countries around the world. The company is headquartered in Emeryville, California, with offices in Australia, Canada, China, France, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. |
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This Month’s Stories |
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[2001] |
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The Bibliothèque de la Sorbonne, based on the original library of the University of Paris from France’s Ancien Régime, was founded in 1770. The University of Paris split into several separate universities in the 1960s, each one subsequently developing its own academic library. The Sorbonne however, was the only library to have kept the prestigious collections held by the original University of Paris library, and was given inter-university status; this means that the library is bound by contract to provide access to professors, researchers and students from each of the Parisian institutions which emerged from the original university. Mme. Marie-Bernadette Jullien, Director of the Bibliothèque de la Sorbonne, said: “The adaptable and flexible structure of Millennium, provided by APIs and Java clients, will mean that we will be able to continue to follow our traditional and well-developed working practices which ensure we can meet the needs of our libraries and users. The high configurability of Millennium and Innovative’s capacity to adapt the software to meet the needs of the Bibliothèque de la Sorbonne, helped us in making our decision. Also of particular importance, was the high quality of Millennium’s OPAC and its ability to handle our complex in-house circulation and access control requirements.” Mme. Jullien continued, “Finally, the reputation of Innovative Interfaces for its automation of other prestigious academic libraries, as well as their capacity to keep pace with information and technological evolution, contributed to our selection of the Millennium system.” Mark Carden, Innovative’s Director of International Sales, added: “The Bibliothèque de la Sorbonne is one of the most prestigious libraries in the world, with a collection that is of great importance to a wide range of scholars. It is an honour for us to be selected to bring the Sorbonne’s library automation into the 21st century with our web-based system, Millennium. This is the third, and largest, project we have undertaken in France to date, but we expect to be working with many more academic and public libraries in France in the near future.” “It has been a pleasure working with the staff at the Sorbonne, and we are convinced that Millennium, with its full functionality, flexibility and ease of use, will satisfy the needs of a rich and complex structure such as theirs,” added Maryvonne Enjolras, Innovative’s Sales Consultant for France. The Bibliothèque de la Sorbonne consists of three libraries: Bibliothèque de la Sorbonne itself, the Bibliothèque Victor Cousin, and the Bibliothèque de l’Institut de Géographie. The library’s inherited and modern collection represents approximately 3 million volumes and 18,000 magazine titles. Specialising in human sciences, its areas of excellence are in antiques, philosophy, history, literature and geography. It also has a very rich collection of rare and precious books in the form of archives, handwritten manuscripts, ancient books, engravings, maps and other iconographic documents. For more information about the Bibliothèque de la Sorbonne, visit the web-site at www.sorbonne.fr. |
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Karlstad University in Sweden has chosen Millennium in an upgrade from its existing Libertas system. The Millennium implementation is due for completion during the autumn 2001. Eva Arndt Kling, Principal Librarian at Karlstad University, said, "Millennium met our requirements for a fully integrated, modern system with good functionality. The Web OPAC, overall user-friendliness, and Millennium's interface with external resources also influenced our decision. "Innovative, and formerly SLS, have provided splendid support since we began using LIBERTAS in the early 1990s, and we are pleased to continue our long cooperation with the company and its staff. Furthermore, the opportunity for a smooth migration to Millennium was very important to us." Karlstad University is one of the newer universities in Sweden; it began as a University College in 1977. Today, the university has approximately 10,000 students and 900 employees, and the library catalog holds around 200,000 bibliographic records. In January, 2002 the new university library will be opened as the university's "Learning Resource Centre" with about 1,000 seats and 250 computers with Internet connection. The addition of Millennium as the library system for the new centre will ensure that Karlstad University Library can keep pace with the latest technologies and the increasing demands of its library users. |
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The Universidad de Córdoba, in the Andalucian region of Spain, has chosen the Millennium library automation system from Innovative Interfaces to replace its incumbent Dobis/Libis system. The university joins a growing number of academic institutions in Spain that have installed Innovative's Web-based Millennium system at their libraries. Maria Carmen Liñan Maza, Library Director at the University, said, "We were encouraged by the number of Innovative library systems installed at large institutions across Europe and in the USA, and also with the company's close relationship with the academic library sector. We also felt that the advanced technology which the Millennium system possesses will greatly simplify the administrative operations of our libraries, and will allow the effective integration and resource-sharing between the different library locations. Millennium's simple, user-friendly Internet access to these shared resources will enable us to meet the demands of our library users." Innovative's Millennium system was selected by a consortium of Andalucian universities, of which the Universidad de Córdoba is a member, to better serve the current technological needs of its librarians and its library users. Some of the consortium member universities have already installed Millennium; others will follow in future months. Outside of Andalucia, many other Spanish universities have adopted Innovative's systems, including the Universitat de les Illes Balears, Universidad de Complutense, the Galician Library Consortium, Universidad de Navarra, and the Universidad de Salamanca. Millennium has also been chosen by non-academic libraries in Spain, including Biblioteca Valenciana and the Govern Balear consortium of libraries in Palma. |
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