September 18, 2006
Boston, MA—September 18, 2006. The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) today announced the selection of the Ex Libris™ Group as the provider of the integrated library management system for its newly renovated Ingalls Library, the fourth largest art museum library in the United States. Ex Libris will provide the ALEPH® 500 library automation system; the MetaLib® library portal; SFX®, the context-sensitive link server; Verde®, the electronic resources management system; and Primo®, Ex Libris new discovery and delivery solution, as the backbone of the system.
We are very confident that the search, retrieval and data management capabilities Ex Libris offers will allow us to provide the highest level of access to library and archive resources for all those we serve, staff, scholars and members alike, said Betsy Lantz, director of Ingalls Library. The capabilities of this system will enable the library staff to enhance and expand the Museums commitment to education by providing seamless searching across internal, national and international library catalogs and databases while providing greatly enhanced control over vast amounts of information and streamlining many library procedures.
We are proud to have such a distinguished museum select Ex Libris as the vendor for its future library information management system, commented Mr. Dan Trajman, President of Ex Libris, Inc. We share a vision of the information universe as one built around extendable services, with a single user interface for print, digital data, and electronic data bases. We are gratified that CMA shares our vision of Primo as an intuitive, yet sophisticated environment for the search and delivery of the Museums many information sources, and trust that the Museums investments in Primo, ALEPH, MetaLib/SFX and Verde will enhance the discovery and presentation of their collections for its researchers and clientele.
The Cleveland Museum of Art now joins the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a member of the PACSCL consortium, as two of the largest North American museums using ALEPH 500.
About the Ingalls Library:
The Ingalls Library of the Cleveland Museum of Art, the fourth largest art museum library in the United States, is a nationally recognized art reference library, which includes an image library and the museum archives. The library contains approximately 417,000 cataloged volumes including monographs and periodicals as well as auction and dealers catalogues, microforms, electronic publications, artist and institutional clipping files and other materials. The image library contains approximately 40,000 slides, 250,000 digital images and 6,000,000 photographs of works of art and architecture, including individual photographs and microfiche.
Ingalls Library also houses the Museum Archives, established in 1989 through a grant from the George Gund Foundation. Archives collections include the administrative records of museum offices and the Board of Trustees; audio and visual recordings of museum programs and events; electronic records; oral histories; and a small number of manuscript collections from persons related to, but not employed by, the museum. These materials are valuable resources for researching the history of the museum and its collections, the evolution of CMA exhibitions and other projects, the social background of the major art movements of the twentieth century, and the social and cultural history of the Cleveland area.
One of the first completed milestones of the Museums unprecedented $258 million renovation and expansion project (scheduled for completion in 2011), the library will begin relocating into its newly renovated space in the Museums landmark Marcel Breuer Building on September 25, 2006.
About The Cleveland Museum of Art:
The Cleveland Museum of Art is one of Americas leading comprehensive museums. Its permanent collection is world renowned for its quality and breadth, spanning 6,000 years. The Museum is a significant international forum for exhibitions, scholarship and art acquisitions.
For more information on the Museum, its holdings, programs, services and events, visit www.ClevelandArt.org.
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 500, 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®, Ex Libris 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.
