The Wales Higher Education Libraries Forum (WHELF), a consortium of all the Welsh University Libraries, as well as the National Library of Wales and the Welsh NHS Libraries, has selected Alma® and Primo® to deliver a new bilingual shared library system for Wales. These Ex Libris solutions will be replacing the variety of library management and discovery systems employed by the consortium members and enable WHELF to deliver a single next-generation library system, delivered on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) basis. Whilst Alma will automate and streamline library operations across all workflows and resource types, Primo will enable users to easily find and seamlessly access the resources they need.

I spoke to Aled Gruffydd Jones, Chief Executive of the National Library of Wales and Chair of WHELF, about the consortium’s decision: “All WHELF members are looking forward to realizing transformational benefits from our collaboration on a shared Library system, including the provision of a single bilingual search interface for Wales Higher Education and research, plus the potential for deeper collaboration around collection development and management.”

The member libraries of WHELF are Aberystwyth University, Bangor University, Swansea University, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Glyndwr University, the National Library of Wales, Cardiff University, Cardiff Metropolitan University, the University of South Wales and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, plus the Welsh NHS Libraries represented through the AWHILES Consortium.

If you would like to find out more about this project, please don’t hesitate to contact us.