February 14, 2008
Jerusalem, Israel
Designed to support Chinese-language libraries, Ex Libris products are a popular choice in the Asian market
Ex Libris is pleased to announce that the number of customers in the Asia Pacific region, particularly in Chinese-speaking countries, continues to expand. Of late, six institutions in China—Wuhan University, Chongqing Library, Shenzhen Polytechnic College, Capital University of Economics and Business, Beijing International Studies University, and Nanjing Library—have chosen to acquire Aleph®, the Ex Libris integrated library system. In addition to Aleph, Wuhan University has also adopted the MetaLib® gateway and metasearch system, the SFX® context-sensitive link resolver, and the Verde® electronic resource management system—all from Ex Libris.
“During our long system evaluation process, we were very impressed with the open architecture and the flexibility of the Ex Libris products, along with the professionalism and dedication of the local office staff,” said Professor Yan Jinwei, director of Wuhan University Library. “Having visited sites and participated in a live, onsite demo using Wuhan sample data and library policy configurations, we are fully confident in the success of the project,” Prof. Yan added.
“Ex Libris China is extremely pleased with its continually improving sales in the Chinese-speaking market,” commented Fucheng Shen, managing director of Ex Libris China. “We are honored that Wuhan University—one of China’s most prestigious academic institutions—has become the first Chinese customer to acquire Aleph, MetaLib, SFX, and Verde in a single agreement. We are already planning the complex data conversion from Wuhan’s previous systems and the fulfillment of its comprehensive workflow requirements. We look forward to making Wuhan University another successful Ex Libris China site.”
“The expansion in the number of Ex Libris customers in the Asia Pacific region is due, to a great extent, to the flexibility of Ex Libris products, which have been adapted to the needs of the Chinese-speaking community,” says Oded Scharfstein, vice president for Asia Pacific at Ex Libris. “The addition of these six Chinese institutions to the Ex Libris customer base attests to the suitability of Ex Libris products in these markets.”
Other notable institutions that have recently joined the Chinese-speaking Ex Libris community are the National Library Board, Singapore, and Taiwan’s National Chiao Tung University and National Tsing Hua University.
About Wuhan University
Wuhan University, directly administered by the Education Ministry of the People’s Republic of China, is located in the capital of Hubei province, Wuhan, which is known as the “thoroughfare leading to nine provinces.” The university originated as the Ziqiang Institute, which was founded in 1893 by Zhang Zhidong, governor of Hubei and Hunan provinces in the late Qing Dynasty. Today, the school boasts some 45,000 students; undergraduate and graduate programs in the humanities, sciences, social sciences, law, medicine, management, and engineering; and a library collection of approximately 5.2 million volumes.
For additional information on Wuhan University http://www.whu.edu.cn/en
About Ex Libris
Ex Libris is a leading provider of automation solutions for academic libraries. Offering the only comprehensive product suite for electronic, digital, and print materials, Ex Libris provides the efficient, user-friendly products that serve the needs of libraries today and will enable them to transition into the future. Ex Libris maintains an impressive customer base consisting of thousands of sites in more than 70 countries on six continents.
Dedicated to developing creative solutions in close collaboration with our customers, Ex Libris enables academic, national, and research libraries to maximize productivity and efficiency and, at the same time, greatly enhance the user experience. By empowering patrons to discover and obtain the information they need, libraries ensure their position as the bridge to knowledge.
