April 5, 2016
The Alma solution will help libraries increase satisfaction among students, researchers, and library staff by improving collaboration, facilitating access to resources, and reducing workflow complexity.
London, UK—April 5, 2016. Ex Libris, a ProQuest company, is pleased to announce that SCURL (the Scottish Confederation of University and Research Libraries) and APUC (Advanced Procurement for Universities and Colleges) have selected the Ex Libris Alma® library management service and Primo® discovery and delivery platform as the top-ranked solutions for Scottish higher and further education libraries.
After an extensive evaluation process, which included comprehensive live demonstrations and detailed product comparisons, SCURL selected Ex Libris as the top-ranked provider and Ex Libris products as the solutions of choice for next-generation libraries.
Jill Evans, service development manager at SCURL, explained: ”In 2011, we began The Benefits of Sharing (TBoS) project, backed by Jisc. The report was released in 2013 with recommendations to further develop collaboration across Scottish higher education libraries. This led in turn to a stringent process to evaluate management and discovery systems on the market and select one supplier for a national framework agreement.”
Ms. Evans continued: ”The tendering and demonstration elements were extremely rigorous, ensuring that a cross section of professional library staff from across Scotland would be able to see for themselves how different solution options worked. Alma and Primo impressed us as proven solutions that are tightly integrated with each other for the management of print and electronic resources; in addition, these solutions integrate well with external systems and services and come from a company with a track record of on-time and on-budget implementations.”
The first two institutions to take advantage of the APUC framework contract with Ex Libris are Heriot-Watt University (HWU) and Abertay University.
Mike Roch, director of information services at Heriot-Watt University explained: ”I am very proud that over the past six months, working with APUC and other Scottish higher-education institutions, HWU Information Services has led a national procurement for library management platforms. The market-leading product, Alma, will be implemented at HWU this summer as part of the Information Systems Modernisation Programme. This state-of-the-art platform will give our global users prompt discovery of and access to the £1.5 million of library resources that HWU acquires each year.”
Mr. Roch added: ”This very important milestone for SCURL, with its strong track record for establishing shared services, means that Alma is now available to Scottish universities on common terms. This arrangement will save them time and money on procurement and implementation. Having a small number of library platforms across Scottish higher education will also enable us to negotiate with publishers for ready-to-use resources tailored to those platforms. In this way, we will reduce the complexity, the cost, and the time taken to deliver new content to our students and academics.”
Jim Huntingford, head of library services at Abertay University, commented: ”Our library strategy calls for us to enable flexible and seamless access to services, resources, and learning opportunities at any time, in any location, and through any device. This means we have to deliver integrated data and systems that improve processes relevant to the student and staff journey. As part of the SCURL and APUC initiative, we co-selected Alma and Primo as the best management, delivery, and discovery solution for our current and future needs.”
Ofer Mosseri, corporate vice president and general manager of Ex Libris Europe, said: ”We are proud to be selected as the preferred solution provider for the Scottish higher and further education sectors and look forward to the continuing expansion of our large customer base in Scotland. This initiative by APUC and SCURL is a great opportunity for more Scottish institutions of all sizes to benefit from the superior next-generation capabilities of Alma and Primo.”
About SCURL
SCURL comprises the Scottish university and higher and further education libraries, the two major public reference libraries in Glasgow and Edinburgh, the National Library of Scotland, National Museums Scotland, the Open University, and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
SCURL aims to improve services for users and maximise resources through collaborative action; to work with other organisations, sectors, and domains toward the creation of a cooperative library infrastructure in Scotland; to lobby funding and planning bodies on matters of shared interest; and to provide mutual support for members.
About APUC
APUC (Advanced Procurement for Universities and Colleges) Limited is the procurement centre of expertise for, and owned by, all of Scotland’s universities and colleges.
About Abertay University
Abertay is a modern university with a long history of educating students dating back to 1888, when it was founded as the Dundee Technical Institute. Described in a 1902 Scottish Office report as one of Scotland’s ”industrial universities,” Abertay has from the very start always focused on delivering career-relevant skills and learning.
Abertay offers a wide range of courses in fields as diverse as psychology, ethical hacking, forensic science, business, civil engineering, and sports across its four academic Schools: Dundee Business School; the School of Arts, Media and Computer Games; the School of Science, Engineering and Technology, and the School of Social and Health Sciences. All courses are focused on relevant skills, practical experience, and learning from industry practitioners and experts. For more information, see www.abertay.ac.uk/.
About Heriot-Watt University
With a history dating back to 1821, Heriot-Watt University has established a reputation for world-class teaching and practical, leading-edge research, which has made us one of the top UK universities for business and industry. Heriot-Watt is a vibrant, forward-looking university, well known for the quality of our degrees, with employers actively seeking out our graduates. Heriot-Watt is also Scotland’s most international university, with an unsurpassed international in-country presence. The university offers degree programs to over 31,000 students globally, with campuses in Dubai and Malaysia, and boasts the largest international student cohort in Scotland.
About Ex Libris
Ex Libris, a ProQuest company, is a leading global provider of cloud-based solutions for higher education. Offering SaaS solutions for the management and discovery of the full spectrum of library and scholarly materials, as well as mobile campus solutions driving student engagement and success, Ex Libris serves thousands of customers in 90 countries. For more information about Ex Libris, see our website, and join us on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter
