January 20, 2006
Newton, MA—January 20, 2006. Ex Libris is pleased to announce the upcoming version 2.0 release of Verde, its ground-breaking electronic resource management solution (ERMS). This latest version is a significant update with major enhancements in functionality, flexibility and power.
Some highlights of the many enhancements in Verde 2.0:
Verde 2.0 includes a workflow manager that enhances locally-controlled workflow management capabilities. Libraries can specify their workflow – that is, the order of expected activities in processing e-products, such as e-product creation followed by licensing, acquisitions processing, and proxy setup. Recognizing that no two libraries handle e-products in exactly the same way, Verdes workflow mechanism is designed to enable libraries to create individual e-product workflows appropriate to their specific needs.
For libraries in a consortium, Verde 2.0 enables cross-library searching whereby libraries can choose to search e-products for one, some, or all members of the consortium. Search results are merged to efficiently display the resources belonging to each library. In addition, member libraries may share e-product details across products and across institutions. Further, the Verde 2.0 enhanced tools enable consortia to produce multi-institution electronic resource statistics within a single report.
The Verde 2.0 new-product wizard simplifies the task of creating a local e-product record, by asking a series of questions about the new e-product, and then automatically creating a set of linked records describing the interface, package, and e-journals. This feature supplements the use of the pre-populated knowledge base which provides a jumpstart to managing e-products in Verde.
Tsinghua University in China will be among the first customers to benefit from Verde 2.0s enhanced support for non-Roman languages.
Verde 2.0 builds on the DLF ERMI specification by delivering structured, searchable and granular incident and breach logs. The logs help ensure that both the library and the publisher live up to the terms of the e-product license.
Verde 2.0 builds on the great success of Verde v1.0 which now has 47 customers in the first five months since release. Leading institutions that have recognized the benefits of Verde in streamlining the management of their e-resources include government institutions such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), corporate customers such as Bristol Myers Squibb and Hoffman La Roche and Academic libraries including the Five Colleges consortium, the California Digital Library and Yale University.
Ted Koppel, Ex Libris Product Manager for Verde, notes, Because many of these customers were already SFX customers, they have, in Verde, been able to take advantage of e-products already configured in SFX. We work closely with our customers and listen to the needs of the community at large to understand their ERM processing requirements; and in Verde 2.0, and in future releases, we will continue to develop Verde to meet their ever growing expectations and needs.
Taking an active role in the industry, Ex Libris continues its deep involvement with the Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative (SUSHI) and other ERM-related standards activities. Verde is a member of the recently formed License Expression Working Group, working towards the goal of receiving license information from publishers in an XML format and loading that licensing data directly into Verde.
Verde 2.0 is scheduled for general release in March 2006. To learn more, please visit Ex Libris at Booth # 1451 during ALA Mid-Winter.
About Ex Libris:
Ex Libris is a leading worldwide developer and provider of high-performance applications for libraries, information centers, and researchers. ALEPH™, the Ex Libris integrated library solution, has been installed at over 1500 sites in 62 countries. MetaLib®, the information portal for library collections, and SFX®, the context-sensitive linking solution for heterogeneous electronic resources in the scholarly information environment, have collectively been purchased by more than 900 institutions in 36 countries. DigiTool, the enterprise solution for the management of digital collections in libraries and academic environments, and Verde, the new electronic resource management (ERM) system, complete the Ex Libris product suite.
