March 1, 2007
Jerusalem, Israel and Edinburgh, Scotland—March 1, 2007. Ex Libris™ Group announced today that two important new engineering and technology resources – TechXtra and PerX – have been added to the MetaLib® Central KnowledgeBase of cross-searchable resources. PerX provides subject resource discovery across a series of repositories of interest to the engineering learning and research communities. TechXtra cross-searches 31 engineering, mathematics, and computing collections from over 50 publishers and providers.
The new resources effectively increase the range of cross-searchable engineering, mathematics, and computing resources in the MetaLib gateway and metasearch system. As with all new cross-search configurations in the MetaLib Central KnowledgeBase (whether added by Ex Libris or by libraries), these configurations are available to libraries at no additional charge.
Karen Groves, MetaLib product manager at Ex Libris, commented, “We are very pleased to offer these important new services with the MetaLib KnowledgeBase and are confident that many libraries will make use of these new configurations. An additional benefit to end users is that through the SFX linking server, they will see links to applicable services via records retrieved from TechXtra and PerX.”
Roddy MacLeod, senior subject librarian at Heriot-Watt University and manager of TechXtra, added, “We are pleased that our innovative new service will be available to the global MetaLib user base. Having TechXtra and PerX in MetaLib means that we will receive more hits, both through metasearches and through direct hits on our native interface, as MetaLib provides both options.”
About TechXtra:
An initiative of the Institute for Computer Based Learning (ICBL) and the library at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, TechXtra receives no external funding. TechXtra is an independent service and free source of information in engineering, mathematics, and computing. TechXtra is based on a search engine that provides immediate access to the freely available full-text content of millions of articles, key Web sites, theses and dissertations, books, industry news, new job announcements, technical reports, e-prints, learning and teaching resources, and the latest research in engineering, mathematics, and computing. In cases where the full text is not freely available, TechXtra provides links to vendors for pay-per-view options.
TechXtra also offers access to hundreds of free trade magazine subscriptions and technical document downloads, job announcements, the latest industry news, cut-price new books, discovery guides, information about validated engineering design data, information about offshore engineering publications, newsletters, and more. In the future, new databases, feeds, journals, newsletters, and guides will be added to TechXtra, and the interface will be updated.
For additional information on TechXtra, see http://www.techxtra.ac.uk.
About PerX:
PerX—Pilot Engineering Repository XSearch—is a two-year Joint Information Systems Committee Digital Repositories Programme project. The purpose of the project is to develop a pilot service that will provide subject resource discovery across a series of repositories of interest to the engineering learning and research community. This pilot will then be used as a test bed for exploring the practical issues that would be involved in a full-scale subject resource discovery service.
For more information on PerX, see http://www.icbl.hw.ac.uk/perx/about.htm.
About MetaLib:
The Ex Libris MetaLib gateway and metasearch system enables users to access their institution’s e-collections, obtain relevant services, and work in a personalized environment. Using the easily customized MetaLib user interface or the user interface of another application tightly integrated with MetaLib, library patrons can conduct a metasearch across heterogeneous resources or link to the resources’ native interface.
The flexible MetaLib infrastructure accommodates both single institutions and consortia. Web-based administration tools enable librarians to quickly activate the full range of information resources that they offer their users. Integrated with the MetaLib gateway is the award-winning SFX OpenURL-compliant linking server, which provides users with context-sensitive linking to services that their institution has defined and customized on the basis of its e-collections and policies.
For additional information on MetaLib, see http://www.exlibrisgroup.com/metalib.htm.
About Ex Libris Group:
Ex Libris Group is a leading worldwide developer and provider of high-performance applications for libraries, information centers, and researchers, with installations around the globe. The Ex Libris flagship ALEPH® 500 and Voyager® integrated library solutions are in use at over 3,000 sites worldwide. Other products from the Ex Libris suite, deployed at more than 1,300 sites, focus on the digital library and offer state-of-the-art, user-centric solutions for managing electronic resources and digital assets and providing informed access to them.
