What happens when a 700-year-old city becomes the stage for the future of libraries?
From September 15–18, Siena brought our community together for IGeLU 2025, a week dedicated to practical AI, open workflows, and roadmap breakthroughs across Alma, Primo, Rapido, and more.
The Opening Keynote by Prof. Marco Gori, University of Siena (Siena Artificial Intelligence Lab), explored responsible, human-centered AI.
Later, Yariv Kursh, SVP & GM, presented “From Vision to Reality: Growing Forward, Together,” outlining what’s shipping now and what’s next.
Together, these opening sessions framed a week filled with product updates, community-led insights, and opportunities to explore the future of library technology firsthand.
What we covered at the event:
- From Hype to Help – AI isn’t just a buzzword anymore. Alma’s Metadata Assistant and new Discovery Assistants in Primo/Summon are already in action, making everyday tasks faster and smarter.
- Drag. Drop. Done. – Library Open Workflows (LibOW) shows what happens when coding disappears. Libraries can build and automate with simple, visual tools now in early adoption.
- Discovery Gets Conversational – The Next Discovery Experience (NDE) is more than a facelift: a cleaner Primo, accessibility by design, and search that talks back in beta.
- Shining Light on Hidden Treasures – From handwritten manuscripts to special archives, Alma Specto and Specto Essentials are redefining how unique collections are described and displayed.
- Roadmap with Your Fingerprints – Community input took the stage: Rialto enhancements, onCourse development, Vega for Academics, and the new Known Issues Portal are here because you asked.
- Accessibility by Default – No longer an afterthought, progress toward WCAG 2.2 AA is making products and content more inclusive from the ground up.
Curious about what’s already live, what’s in early adoption, and what’s coming next?
→ Read the full IGeLU 2025 highlights
