September 3, 2014
World-leader becomes the 100th institution to go-live with the next-generation library management service
Hamburg, Germany—September 3, 2014. Ex Libris® Group, a world leader in the provision of library automation solutions, is delighted to announce that the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Library has become the 100th institution to go live with Ex Libris Alma. Libraries in nine countries are now using Alma to streamline library operations and enable them to provide higher quality services to end users. Over 360 institutions worldwide have selected Alma as their next generation resource management solution.
Anna Grigson, head of collection services at LSE Library, commented ”The teams at LSE and Ex Libris have collaborated to produce a Library Management System that will give LSE Library insights into collection usage and management, helping to guide our future service development. The Library now has a cloud-based solution that will free colleagues from some of the technology related tasks, enabling them to focus on enhancing our services. In addition, the strong integration with Primo will enable us to combine global and local resource discovery into a modern interface that maximises the benefits of both systems.”
Bar Veinstein, vice president for resource management solutions at Ex Libris, remarked: ”We are excited to have reached this important landmark in the evolution of Alma as the solution of choice for academic and research libraries in North America, Europe, and Asia. In just over two years since the first institution—Boston College—went live, the active and highly collaborative Alma community has grown to 100 members. A further 250 libraries that are currently implementing Alma are also part of this community, which exchanges expertise, developments, and initiatives via numerous channels, including the Ex Libris Developer Network. I greatly appreciate their open and collaborative spirit and look forward to many years of meaningful partnership with the LSE and the entire Alma community.”
The London School of Economics and Political Science Library selected Ex Libris Alma for next-generation resource management services and Ex Libris Primo® for unified resource discovery in January 2014. Primo and Alma have replaced a number of systems, including the Serials Solutions Summon service, the open-source VuFind discovery solution, and the Ex Libris Voyager® integrated library system.
About LSE Library
LSE Library, founded in 1896 as the British Library of Political and Economic Science, is the major international library for the social sciences with over 4 million printed items, 60,000 online journals and 29,000 electronic books. The Library’s extensive research collections are international in scope, with particular strengths in government and official publications, data and statistical materials. It has been recognised by the Higher Education Funding Council as one of only five National Research Libraries in England, and carries designated status as being of outstanding national and international importance, in the scheme administered by Arts Council England. In 2013, the Library took ownership of the Women’s Library collection, the oldest and most extensive collection of women’s history in Europe, and 2014 opened a new Women’s Library Reading Room for the consultation of archive and special collection material. The Library provides a wide range of services to support teaching and research at the School, including: LSE Research Online, the institutional repository for research produced by LSE staff; the Digital Library, containing digitised material from the Library’s collections; information skills training for all students and staff; and dedicated support staff for each department.
About Ex Libris
Ex Libris is a leading provider of automation solutions for academic, national, and research libraries. Offering the only comprehensive product suite for electronic, digital, and print materials, Ex Libris provides efficient, user-friendly products that serve the needs of libraries today and will facilitate their transition into the future. Ex Libris maintains an impressive customer base consisting of thousands of sites in more than 90 countries on six continents.
Dedicated to developing creative solutions in close collaboration with customers, Ex Libris enables libraries to maximize productivity and efficiency and, at the same time, greatly enhance the user experience. By empowering users to discover and obtain the information they need, libraries ensure their position as the bridge to knowledge.
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