January 28, 2015
Universities from the US, the UK, Belgium, and Australia help shape a new Ex Libris offering
Jerusalem, Israel—January 28, 2015. Ex Libris® Group, a world leader in the provision of library automation solutions, is pleased to announce a development partnership with the libraries of the University of Oklahoma (OU) in the US, Imperial College and Kingston University in the UK, KU Leuven in Belgium, and UNSW Australia. The partners will participate in the development of a new reading-list solution that is now in the works at Ex Libris.
Tailored to the needs of instructors and students, the reading-list solution will provide an easy-to-use application enabling instructors to create, maintain, and review course reading lists of all types and to monitor their use. Students will benefit from an engaging and convenient way to access the items on reading lists and to track reading-related tasks. The solution will be tightly integrated with institutional systems such as course-management, library-management, and discovery systems, as well as with third-party systems and services.
”We are excited to embark on this route to developing a tool that is highly needed to support our huge investment in course materials,” commented Carl Grant, OU Libraries associate dean of knowledge services. ”First of all, we want to best support our faculty and students in their research, teaching, and learning roles. In addition, the library will be able to leverage the Alma library management service to provide, and promote the use of, course materials in a variety of forms through cross-system automated workflows. The reading-list solution will also better position us to address the needs of new teaching methods, such as flipped classrooms and online learning environments.”
Jo Rademakers, head of LIBIS at KU Leuven, explained: ”In today’s reality, when instructors accumulate a range of reading materials from a variety of sources and share them in formal and informal ways, helping the instructors organize and maintain course lists for informed use and reuse is even more important. With this new tool, we will be able to assist instructors in making the most of our collections. Students will gain enormously from robust, unified reading lists and from the ability to share materials and opinions in context.”
”We are keen to foster innovation in the way the library supports learning and teaching,” commented Andrew Wells, university librarian at UNSW Australia. ”We look forward to participating in the development of the reading-list tool, which will be tightly integrated with our teaching and learning environments and will provide an engaging, innovative user experience for instructors and students.”
Chris Banks, director of library services at Imperial College London, added: ”Having implemented Alma in 2013 and, since then, integrated other functions into Alma, we are delighted that Ex Libris is now developing an integrated reading-list solution. Such a solution will help us understand the ways in which our collections are being used for teaching and learning, in addition to informing our collection development priorities and through those, ensuring our support for Imperial College’s mission.”
”Kingston is delighted to be working with Ex Libris on this important development,” commented Dr. Clarissa Wilks, dean of learning and teaching at Kingston University. ”The reading-list project perfectly complements our commitment to active learning and enhanced student support, as set forth in our new Academic Framework, and will bring real benefits to the diverse student body of which we are so proud.”
”Ex Libris is very pleased to collaborate with five distinguished institutions in bringing our new product to life,” remarked Shlomi Kringel, corporate VP for discovery and delivery solutions at Ex Libris. ”We envision the reading-list solution as a platform for individual and collaborative work for students and teachers and as a tool enabling the library to extend its reach and demonstrate its value to the institution.”
About the University of Oklahoma
Attracting top students from across the nation and more than 100 countries around the world, the University of Oklahoma (OU) provides a major university experience in a private-college atmosphere. OU is number one nationwide in the number of National Merit Scholars enrolled in public universities and is in the top 10 nationwide in the graduation of Rhodes Scholars from public universities. OU has emerged as a pacesetter for public higher education in the United States; the Princeton Review ranks OU among the top 10 public universities in the nation in terms of academic excellence and cost for students. For more information, see http://www.ou.edu/.
About Imperial College
Consistently rated among the world’s top universities, Imperial College London is a science-based institution with a reputation for excellence in teaching and research. Founded in 1907, Imperial College embodies and delivers world-class scholarship, education, and research in science, engineering, medicine, and business, with particular regard to the application of these fields in industry, commerce, and healthcare. With 14,700 full-time students as well as international students from over 125 countries, the university fosters a global vision, encourages interdisciplinary approaches, and collaborates widely with other research institutions. For more information, see http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/.
About Kingston University
With more than 21,000 students, Kingston University is the largest provider of higher education in southwest London, offering an extensive range of undergraduate and postgraduate programs both in the United Kingdom and overseas. The University is a growing force in research and a pioneer in e-learning. Major developments in teaching, learning, and facilities have all contributed to positioning Kingston University at the heart of education and economic development in the region. The Higher Education Business and Community Interaction Survey 2011-12 reported that, for the fourth year running, Kingston had the highest number of graduates starting up their own companies of any institution in the United Kingdom. For more information, see http://www.kingston.ac.uk.
About KU Leuven
Situated in Belgium, in the heart of Western Europe, KU Leuven has been a center of learning for nearly six centuries. Today it is Belgium’s largest university; founded in 1425, it is also one of the oldest and most renowned universities in Europe. As a leading European research university and co-founder of the League of European Research Universities (LERU), KU Leuven offers a wide variety of international master’s programs to more than 50,000 students from almost 150 countries, all supported by high-quality, innovative, interdisciplinary research by over 7,000 researchers. For more information, see http://www.kuleuven.be/english/.
About UNSW Australia
The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is one of Australia’s foremost research-intensive universities and in the top 50 worldwide, renowned for the quality of its graduates and its commitment to new and creative approaches to education and research. Established in 1949, the University’s mission is to make a significant contribution to the development of knowledge, to learning and teaching, to students and to society.
UNSW is a founding member of the Group of Eight, a coalition of Australia’s leading research-intensive universities, and of the prestigious international network Universitas 21. With more than 50,000 students from over 120 countries, it is one of Australia’s most cosmopolitan universities. For more information, see http://www.unsw.edu.au/.
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 90 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.
