June 25, 2014
The program improves libraries‘ e-book acquisition workflows and increases the discoverability of acquired content
Jerusalem, Israel—June 25, 2014. Ex Libris® Group, a world leader in the provision of library automation solutions, is pleased to announce that Springer Science+Business Media (Springer) and the American Council of Learned Societies Humanities E-Book (HEB) University Press have opted to participate in the Ex Libris Alma Community Zone program. These organizations join other information providers that are already members of the program, among them ProQuest Ebook Library (EBL) and ebrary.
The Alma Community Zone, a major component of the Alma library management solution, includes a central community catalog that increases librarians’ efficiency by streamlining acquisition and cataloging processes. Under the Alma Community Zone program, Ex Libris loads publishers’ MARC records into the central community catalog, instead of each library loading the records into its local catalog. As a result, librarians are spared time-consuming processes associated with acquisition, the updating of records, and authority control. By contributing their metadata to the community catalog, Springer and HEB will help libraries streamline their acquisition workflows via Alma, and end users will benefit from the ease of discovery of these publishers‘ collections.
Berendina van Straalen, head of rights and permissions at Springer, remarked: ”We are happy to offer our customers full metadata management in Alma, including the indexing of our collections in Primo Central and full bibliographic coverage in the Alma community catalog. We are always looking to create the optimal conditions for libraries to manage and expose the Springer e-book catalog, facilitating the discovery of our extensive collection by end users.”
Sharona Sagi, director of resource management strategy at Ex Libris, commented: ”The selection, acquisition, and management of e-books can be complex, expensive, and time-consuming, often causing delays in their availability to end users. We are delighted that Springer and HEB have added their metadata to the community catalog, thus freeing their customers from uploading and updating e-book metadata. In addition to benefiting these publishers‘ customer community and increasing the discoverability of their collections, their involvement in the program supports their primary goal of making knowledge more easily available to researchers.”
About Springer
Springer Science+Business Media is a leading global scientific, technical and medical publisher, providing researchers in academia, scientific institutions and corporate R&D departments with quality content via innovative information products and services. Springer is also a trusted local-language publisher in Europe – especially in Germany and the Netherlands – primarily for physicians and professionals working in healthcare and road safety education. Springer published roughly 2,200 English-language journals and more than 8,000 new books in 2012, and the group is home to the world’s largest STM eBook collection, as well as the most comprehensive portfolio of open access journals. In 2012, Springer Science+Business Media S.A. generated sales of approximately EUR 981 million. The group employs more than 7,000 individuals across the globe. For more information see www.springer.com.
About ACLS Humanities E-Book
ACLS Humanities E-Book (HEB) is an online collection of approximately 4,000 books of high quality in the humanities, accessible through institutional and individual subscription, and operating under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies. These titles are offered by ACLS in collaboration with thirty learned societies, over 100 contributing publishers, and the Michigan Publishing division at the University of Michigan Library. The result is an online, fully searchable collection of high-quality books in the humanities, recommended and reviewed by scholars. These are works of major importance that remain vital to both scholars and advanced students, and are frequently cited in the literature. HEB adds hundreds of books annually to the collection, all carefully selected. Titles include monographs, collected essays and some primary sources. The collection features unlimited multi-user access and free, downloadable MARC records. HEB is available 24/7 on- and off-campus through standard web browsers. For more information see http://www.humanitiesebook.org
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.
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