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1999 Issues |
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  This month’s stories
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Recent Sirsi news - sales and investment |
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Contents
New investment alliance for Sirsi, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Institute of Chartered Accountants, Johnson County Public Library, Fort Loudoun Regional Library System, US Schools systems
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SIRSI Announces Alliance |
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Press release: HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (Oct. 1, 1999)
Sirsi Corporation announced today that it has entered into a strategic business alliance with CEA Capital Partners, a private
equity firm that invests in media, communications and information service companies.
The alliance was formed to extend SIRSI’s leadership position, according to SIRSI Chief Executive Officer Jim Young. The
partnership will enable SIRSI to pursue more aggressively new business opportunities, as well as to make strategic investments in and acquisitions of other synergistic companies and technologies. As a result of the
alliance and the continued wide acceptance of its popular Unicorn™ Library Management System, SIRSI expects to assume a dominant role in the library technology market.
“SIRSI has established one of the most stable, profitable organizations in the library technology industry. Under the same
ownership and management for the past 20 years, we have experienced a long-term track record of profitability and steady revenue growth. We have become the industry leader and the one stable constant in this often
volatile industry,” Young commented. “To continue this leadership position in today’s very dynamic environment, we need to work with other like-minded firms. Technology is changing and evolving at an unprecedented
rate, and technology companies are increasingly looking to libraries and their technology suppliers as experts in meeting the information demands of end-users. To ensure that we continue to provide our customers
with the most advanced, appropriate technologies available, we need to align ourselves with other high tech companies that share our strategic vision of providing fast, easy access to information and knowledge.”
CEA Capital Partners has more than 50 years of cumulative investment experience. Its investment professionals have an
outstanding record of making growth investments in private companies similar to SIRSI, using comprehensive industry knowledge, experience and creativity. Bill Luby, a CEA founding partner, said, “The key to our
successful record has been our commitment to partnering with superior management. In Jim Young, Jacky Young, and Mike Murdock, the founders and senior managers of SIRSI, we are confident we are working with the best
team in the industry.”
SIRSI, the leader in library technology, is a privately held company founded in 1979, with headquarters in
Huntsville, Ala. SIRSI uses the most advanced technology available to provide easy-to-use information systems for libraries, businesses, and archives. With offices in major U.S. cities and subsidiaries in Australia,
Canada, Latin America, the Middle East, the Peoples Republic of China, and the United Kingdom, the company has established its Unicorn products as the leading client/server library information systems in the world.
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London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine |
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Press release: London, UK (September 1999)
The Library at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine has chosen the Unicorn Collection Management
System to provide an Integrated Library Management System to replace their existing library system.
The Unicorn system has been installed under the Solaris operating system on a Sun Enterprise 250 and will provide access via
a Graphical User Interface (WorkFlows with Z39.50) to Cataloguing, Authority Control, Circulation, Acquisitions together with an Information Gateway to external services over the Internet. SmartPORT will be used to
capture data from Z39.50 sources worldwide. Access to the OPAC will also be available through the World Wide Web via WebCat.
The library of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine has one of the most comprehensive collections in the
fields of international public health and tropical medicine in the world. As well as being used by staff and students from over 100 countries, the Library attracts several thousand external visitors annually who
come to consult its specialised holdings.
Brian Furner, Librarian & Director of Information Services, said: "Unicorn was chosen because of its proven track
record as a robust system backed up by a responsive supplier.
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Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales |
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Press release: London (UK) (September 1999)
The Library and Information Service of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales has implemented the Unicorn Collection
Management SystemTM to provide an Integrated Library Management System that replaces their earlier Manager Series library system.
The Unicorn system has been installed under the SCO UNIX operating system on a Compaq server and will provide
access via a Graphical User Interface (WorkFlowsTM with Z39.50) to OPAC services, cataloguing, SmartPORT, authority control, circulation, acquisitions (with EDI), Selective Dissemination of Information and serials control, together with an information gateway to external services over the Internet. Access to the OPAC will also be available through the World Wide Web via WebCat® in the future.
The Library and Information Service of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales is the foremost collection
of UK accountancy and taxation in the world and also provides extensive business information services to the Institute's 116,000 members. Institute members work in locations throughout the world and in all areas of
business life as well as in accountancy firms. The Library provides information services to members wherever they are in the world and whatever the sector in which they work.
Neil Williams, the Institute's Computer Services Librarian, commented: "The Institute Library chose the
Unicorn system after a comprehensive competitive tendering process. The Unicorn solution best met the needs of the Library across the broadest range of criteria of all the systems considered. Specific factors
leading to the choice of Unicorn were its flexibility through its command based approach, the potential of WebCat to develop services to members, the proven record of the product in similar organisations and the
record of SIRSI in continually developing the system in line with technological developments."
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Johnson County Public Library |
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Press release: FRANKLIN, Ind. (USA) (Sept. 10, 1999)
The Johnson County Public Library, headquartered in Franklin, Ind., has selected Sirsi Corporation’s UnicornTM Library Management System to provide users with a flexible, easily accessible Web-based information system. According to Beverly Martin, Director, “The selection committee evaluated several different automated systems before making a choice. They particularly liked SIRSI’s WebCat OPAC and were impressed with the WorkFlows staff client. However, one of the major deciding factors was the corporate culture within SIRSI. They are very customer service-oriented and approach service to the public as we do, so we felt they would understand our needs as a public library.”
Located in one of the fastest-growing communities in Indiana, JCPL consists of four libraries and two library stations that
serve approximately 85,000 people. The library has a strong commitment to providing state-of-the-art information services. Library staff members work collaboratively to develop and promote innovative programs that
serve adults, teens and children. These include topical forums addressing issues specific to the county’s residents, the formation of a teen advisory council to formulate programs and children’s events that use
popular books as a means of exploring history, geography and world cultures. Other JCPL services include outreach efforts to nursing homes and senior centers and a library-supported Adult Learning Center that offers
free reading and writing assessment, free GED skill assessment, one-on-one tutoring, resources for self-study and parenting programs. JCPL’s World Wide Web site also offers a wide range of resources contributed by
staff members, including links to college scholarship information, U.S. tax information and writer’s references.
With the SIRSI system, JCPL will be switching from a text-based online catalog, Martin reported. “Many users are
familiar with the type of World Wide Web interface that WebCat provides, so our online catalog will be easier for them to use. In addition, our users will be able to seamlessly access the Web-based catalogs of other
libraries and do their own renewals and holds through WebCat. Our goal is to make access to our library as easy as possible for all our users, and the SIRSI system is a marvellous tool to help us do that.”
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Fort Loudoun Regional Library System |
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Press release: ATHENS, Tenn. (USA) (August 13, 1999)
The Fort Loudoun Regional Library System, which includes 27 libraries serving a nine-county area in lower east Tennessee, has selected Sirsi
Corporation's Unicorn™ Library Management System to provide a region-wide integrated information system. According to Lynette Sloan, regional director, Unicorn will be installed initially at the Fort Loudoun
Regional Library Center in Athens and nine member libraries. "We selected SIRSI because of their long-standing reputation as the best in the industry, their quality support and the flexibility of their product.
The SIRSI system will help us accomplish our mission of providing library materials and guidance to walk-in patrons, direct service to the unserved, and technological and administrative support to the communities we
serve," Sloan reported.
The Fort Loudoun Regional Library System, a service of the Tennessee State Library and Archives and the Office of the Tennessee Secretary of State,
covers an area of approximately 4,800 square miles. "Although the first phase of our automation project only includes 10 facilities, we envision that it will eventually encompass all of our member libraries and
our outreach services, and possibly extend to other public libraries outside our region," Sloan commented.
The libraries of the Fort Loudoun Regional Library System will share a union catalog on a Sun server, which will be housed at the
regional center. They will use SIRSI's WebCat® Online Public Access Catalog to provide an online catalog for users and SIRSI's WorkFlows™ to speed cataloging, authority control and circulation functions.
In addition, technical staff members will use SIRSI's SmartPORT Z39.50 cataloging client to capture catalog records from Z39.50 bibliographic databases.
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More new sites for UnicornECOLE |
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School library systems in the USA continue to select Sirsi's UnicornECOLE system. In the past few months,
eight school districts have chosen SIRSI, including the Fremont Unified School District in Fremont, Calif.; the Kalamazoo Public Schools in Kalamazoo, Mich.; the Lake Oswego School District in Lake Oswego, Ore.; the Missoula County Public Schools in Missoula, Mont.; the Moorhead Area Public School District in Moorhead, Minn.; the Seguin Independent School District in Seguin, Texas; the Shasta Union High School District in Redding, Calif.; and the Weld County School District #6 in Greeley, Colo.
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