March 12, 2012
Three additions to the bX suite of usage-based services provide insightful analytics and highlight research trends
Jerusalem, Israel—March 12, 2012. Ex Libris® Group, a world leader in the provision of library automation solutions, is pleased to announce the addition of three new services to the suite of bX usage-based services. Released in 2009, the first member of the bX suite—the bX article recommender—is deployed in over one thousand institutions worldwide.
Using data-mining techniques to analyze scholarly usage data from multiple information systems, the bX technology identifies topics that are currently in the spotlight of academic discourse and assesses the popularity of specific publications. Data analyzed by bX also reveals subtle usage patterns and associations between articles and journals, themes, and authors. By providing analytics and trending information based on the usage patterns of many millions of users, bX services enable librarians to objectively evaluate both the electronic resources that they license and their institutions’ collection strategies.
The bX service suite includes the following new services in addition to the original bX Recommender service, all available at no charge:
- bX Hot Articles, which identifies the most popular articles in major subject areas in the current month. A number of institutions are now using a pilot version of this service. Hot Articles will be available as a mobile application in addition to the Web service.
- bX Most Popular Articles, which lists the articles that users selected the most times in the previous year
- bX Journal Popularity Report, which lists the journals that users selected the most times in the previous quarter
These new services are available to the scholarly community from the Ex Libris Web site and are free for noncommercial use. Enhanced functionality enabling users to access the archives of the bX Most Popular Articles and bX Journal Popularity Report services will be available later this year.
”The mining of usage data that reflects the scholarly activities of millions of users from institutions around the world has an exceptional potential for providing insightful analytics and illuminating scholarly trends,” remarked Oren Beit-Arie, chief strategy officer at Ex Libris. ”We started with the bX Recommender service and are now introducing a suite of additional services that can be used by library staff and directly by end users. These new bX services not only help users discover content that they would not necessarily have found via traditional searches but also provide an important tool that enables institutions to better assess the significance and value of various content products. The development of such a tool is especially timely, with many institutions facing challenges regarding the business models of electronic resources and the sustainability of current collection development plans.”
To find out more about the full suite of bX services, see http://www.exlibrisgroup.com/category/bXUsageBasedServices.
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 80 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.
For more information about Ex Libris Group, see our Web site, join us on Facebook, view our videos, and follow our Twitter page.
