September 4, 2006
Jerusalem, Israel—September 4, 2006. Ex Libris is pleased to announce the upcoming implementation of the thousandth SFX® link resolver. In honor of this milestone, Ex Libris will be awarding the thousandth system, free of charge and fully hosted, to the Thomas Mofolo Library at the National University of Lesotho (NUL).
This gift was made possible through the collaboration of Ex Libris and Electronic Information for Libraries (eIFL.net) which facilitates access to electronic resources by library users in developing and transition countries. Ex Libris and eIFL.net together selected the National University of Lesotho as the recipient of the SFX system. Through eIFL.net, NUL subscribes to many electronic resources. We are thrilled that the SFX service will enable library patrons at NUL to maximise their usage of the growing number of electronic products available to them; and we are pleased to have been able to work with Ex Libris on this unique opportunity, said Rima Kupryte, eIFL.net Director.
Ex Libris will make a presentation to Ms. Mapasane Lephoto, the representative of the NUL Library, at the September meeting of the International Group of Ex Libris Users (IGeLU) in Stockholm, Sweden, September 4-7. SFX customers from around the world, in the spirit of the active, enthusiastic Ex Libris library community, will also participate in this gift by sharing their experience and their knowledge of SFX implementation and services with the library staff of the National University of Lesotho.
“The university library is excited and grateful to be the recipient of the prestigious SFX system from Ex Libris and participate in the SFX community,” commented Dr. Tseli Moshoeshoe-Chadzingwa, university librarian. “We look forward to using the SFX link resolver to interconnect our library electronic resources, thus making them more valuable and readily available to our users. The NUL Library has just expanded to include a new information literacy laboratory, so this gift arrives at an opportune time.
“We are delighted that the National University of Lesotho will be using SFX to serve students and researchers in Lesotho,” commented Matti Shem Tov, president and CEO of Ex Libris. “To properly commemorate the impact of SFX on a thousand libraries all over the world, we wanted to share some of the fruits of the SFX success with an institution that might not otherwise be able to obtain a link resolver.” Oren Beit-Arie, Ex Libris Chief Strategy Officer, added, “This milestone also highlights the remarkable success of the OpenURL framework in general. Since its creation in 2000, in conjunction with our work on the first SFX systems, the OpenURL has turned from a revolutionary development to an industry standard — becoming an essential pillar in information environments and libraries around the globe.”
About the National University of Lesotho:
The National University of Lesotho, located in the city of Roma, is the highest autonomous institution of learning in the country and is committed to representing excellence in the country and contributing to its progress. The student population is expected to exceed 10,000 in the 2006/07 academic year. Through its participation in eIFL, the Thomas Mofolo Library at NUL subscribes to numerous electronic resources, including EBSCOHost®, BioOne, Cambridge Journals Online, Institute of Physics, Oxford Journals Online, and LexisNexis®.
For more information about the National University of Lesotho, please see http://www.nul.ls.
About eIFL.net:
eIFL.net is an international foundation which supports national library consortia in fifty transition and developing countries to negotiate and advocate for the wide availability of electronic resources to education, research and professional communities as well as governmental organisations and civil society. This global network embraces millions of users in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and the Middle East.
For more information about eIFL,net, please see http://www.eifl.net.
About SFX:
SFX—the original OpenURL link resolver—is an innovative tool for interconnecting library-controlled resources and services. SFX provides users with context-sensitive links to services that librarians define on the basis of their institution’s e-collections and policies. Such services, which are dynamically created, can include links to the full text of an article, the OPAC (for local holdings), preferred document-delivery suppliers, related Web-based resources and services, local information repositories, and a range of other services.
For additional information on SFX, please see http://www.exlibrisgroup.com/sfx.htm.
About Ex Libris:
Ex Libris is a leading worldwide developer and provider of high-performance applications for libraries, information centers, and researchers, with installations in 62 countries. ALEPH®, the Ex Libris integrated library solution, has been installed at over 1700 sites worldwide. 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 over 950 institutions in 40 countries. DigiTool®, a solution for the construction of digital collections, and Verde®, the electronic resource management (ERM) system, have been warmly adopted by customers worldwide.
Primo®, our next-generation, user-centric discovery and delivery solution–and the newest addition to the Ex Libris product suite–was launched at the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans in June 2006.
