Charles Sturt University (CSU) is Australia’s leading online learning institute, spread across six campus libraries (Bathurst, Wagga Wagga, Albury-Wodonga, Orange, Port Macquarie and Dubbo).
When CSU joined Rialto as an early adopter in 2020, the library had already been exploring workflow improvements, so Rialto was a natural next step with that process.
At the heart of Charles Sturt University’s approach to education is the Wiradjuri phrase yindyamarra winhanganha – ‘the wisdom of respectfully knowing how to live well in a world worth living in’. Charles Sturt is Australia’s leading regional university, offering more than 250 courses delivered on a network of regional campuses in Orange, Bathurst, Wagga Wagga, Dubbo, Port Macquarie and Albury-Wodonga, and specialist campuses in Canberra, Goulburn and Parramatta. Charles Sturt is also Australia’s most experienced online university and the nation’s online university of choice.
Charles Sturt has a proud history of partnering with industry and businesses to benefit our students and the local community.
Library Officer, Collection Services at CSU
Why did CSU decide to adopt Rialto? “We saw there were great benefits in having the integration with Alma,” said Andrew Press, Manager, Information Resources. “That all-in : one, one-stop shop integration with Alma really simplified the Live Chat support process. It made it easier for staff to find the correct titles, at for Rialto the right price, with the best user access.”
CSU implemented Rialto during the pandemic, which turned out to be perfect timing in a period of other process improvements. “If anything, we didn’t have to do much with Rialto – it was already efficient and optimized for our staff,’
“Our Rialto implementation was really straightforward,’ added Jacqui Evans, Team Manager for Content Acquisitions. “We – Kerri Goldspring, started with eBook ordering, and | submitted the Rialto Library Library Officer, Collection Services at CSU ebook profile, but other than that, it was all behind the scenes. The advantage of it being in Alma is that we had all that configuration done already. It’s all the same user interface, so there was familiarity with the way the menu works.”
Prior to Rialto, CSU’s acquisition workflows were very manual, with multiple steps across multiple platforms. The process for ordering a book involved finding the desired title on the vendor’s platform, importing the bibliographic record into Alma, manually creating a purchase order, and then finally placing the order. Once the library went live with Rialto, they found that they saved time and increased productivity as all these steps were now automated.
“Rialto has really streamlined things for us,’ said Jacqui. “Everything can be done pretty much in one step.” Jacqui explained the benefits of being able to search and order titles and view holdings all within one platform. “Now we can automatically see whether we hold the book or not, so that’s saving time now that we no longer have to search and double check our holdings.”
Jacqui and her team also utilize the Interested User functionality in Rialto to automatically notify users who requested the title once it is available. And, once the order is placed, Rialto automatically creates a Purchase Order in Alma – creating a seamless end-to-end order workflow. “The invoicing is also more streamlined than it used to be,” added Kerri Goldspring, Library Officer, Collection Services. “We get access to the ebooks straightaway. It’s quite good.” Rialto also provides the library with invoices in Australian currency, which has been helpful for budget reporting.
“I would also emphasize how straightforward Rialto is, and how much simpler it seems to make everything,”
Andrew also described the benefits of having integrations across the Ex Libris products that the library uses. “If someone finds a book that we don’t have in Primo, they can request purchasing the title and it comes directly into the Rialto marketplace. If workflow with someone requests a title through Leganto, they just add a tag and it pops up in the Rialto marketplace as well. Having all Rialto and of that functionality in one spot and having it integrated has made it very easy.”
“I would also emphasize how straightforward Rialto is, and how much simpler it seems to make everything,” Jacqui said. “If you are already an Alma library, I can’t imagine why you would not choose to have Rialto.”
