Arizona Universities Library Consortium Selects Ex Libris Alma, Primo, and bX Solutions

 February 28, 2017

Chicago, IL—February 28, 2017. Ex Libris^®, a ProQuest company, is pleased to announce that the Arizona Universities Library Consortium (AULC) has chosen the Ex Libris Alma^® library management service, along with the Ex Libris Primo^® discovery and delivery platform and bX^® scholarly recommender service, to make scholarly resources more readily available to the consortium’s student and faculty users.

The members of the Arizona Universities Library Consortium—Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Arizona—sought a platform that would provide straightforward workflows for print and electronic collections; reduce the time that librarians spend on acquiring, managing, and delivering resources; facilitate collaboration between the library staff of the three universities; and enable patrons to find relevant materials quickly and easily.

Another important factor in the selection process was the Ex Libris track record in academic library consortia and Alma’s rich selection of consortial features. The AULC will benefit from the various configuration options in Alma that support the consortium’s current and planned business practices without the need for complex workarounds. As a cloud-based platform, Alma will spare AULC librarians the burden of carrying out time-consuming tasks such as installing updates and loading records. The solid architecture and strong security practices of the Alma service will ensure uptime and data protection for all AULC libraries.

The choice of Primo by AULC was due to its high configurability and extensive personalization features. Paired with the bX recommender service, Primo will help library users discover and access high quality resources.

Janet Crum, librarian at Northern Arizona University, commented, ”We expect that implementing Alma and Primo will benefit our users and staff immensely. We’re excited and ready to get started!”

Eric Hines, president of Ex Libris North America, said, ”We are delighted that the Arizona Universities Library Consortium has selected the Ex Libris Alma, Primo, and bX solutions. Patrons and librarians will soon benefit from increased staff efficiency in library management, the latest in discovery technology, and a peerless recommender service. We look forward to AULC’s contributions to the active Ex Libris user community.”

The Arizona Universities Library Consortium (AULC) represents the public university libraries in the state of Arizona: Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Arizona. The mission of the Consortium is to improve the availability of and access to the state universities’ research resources. The AULC conducts cooperative collection development and digital initiatives, encourages scholarly communication, supports interlibrary access and services and preservation initiatives, and participates in state and national networks and multi-type library programs such as the Research Arizona Initiative.

Arizona State University (Tempe), a research university with very high research activity, was rated number one in U.S. News & World Report‘s Most Innovative Schools in America category in 2016, the second year in a row that ASU achieved this rating. Visit the Arizona State University website at http://www.asu.edu/.

Northern Arizona University (Flagstaff), founded in 1899, is a public research university offering 151 degree programs and serving more than 30,000 students. NAU is widely recognized as a higher-research institution with a reputation for scientific discovery and the invention of new technologies.  Visit the Northern Arizona University website at http://www.nau.edu/.

The University of Arizona (Tucson) is a premier, public research university. The National Science Foundation ranks the UA 21st in research and development expenditures among US public universities and colleges and 34th among US public and private universities.  The NSF also ranks the UA No. 1 in physical sciences research among US public institutions. http://www.arizona.edu/.

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.