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Most of the universities in Wales formed a consortium over the last year to look at the joint purchase of a new library system to replace
LIBERTAS. After a long period of evaluation, demonstrations and visits, the consortium (made up of Aberystwyth, Cardiff, Lampeter and Swansea universities and the Welsh College of Music & Drama) selected
the Endeavor Voyager system. Although they are very common in Europe and North America, consortium purchases of this sort, between so many institutions, are surprisingly rare in the UK. Co-operation will not
end with the selection of Voyager: the libraries will be pooling expertise during the implementation phase over the summer vacation.
Based in Des Plaines, Illinois, Endeavor has become one of the major library system suppliers to higher education institutions in the United States.
The Voyager system is currently being implemented by the Library of Congress. As well as the Welsh HE consortium, Hertfordshire University Library, Edinburgh University Library and the National Library of Scotland
have also recently chosen the system.
Voyager provides an integrated, Web-based service, based on an Oracle relational database management system. Industry standards interfaces like
Windows, Z39.50 and TCP/IP are used in a multi-tier architecture. Donald J. Reilly, Endeavor's Director of International Sales said "This is a dramatic penetration of the UK university market. We're extremely
excited about the opportunities for Voyager in Europe". Chris West, Director of Library & Information Services at the University of Wales Swansea said: "After a very thorough evaluation process,
Voyager emerged as the most integrated, flexible and future-proof system. This will provide a major improvement in our services to our customers. The integration of electronic information services and e-journals
will now be much easier and will become a universal option for all of our customers for the first time".
From Christopher West - Director of Library & Information Services / Cyfarwyddwr Gwasanaethau Llyfrgell a Gwybodaeth University of Wales Swansea
/ Prifysgol Cymru Abertawe, Singleton Park / Parc Singleton, Swansea / Abertawe SA2 8PP
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