April 27, 2016
The move to a unified, next-generation system will enable Cambridge to integrate the operations of a modern library service and offer users the benefit of a single discovery interface
London, United Kingdom—April 27, 2016. Ex Libris®, a ProQuest company, is pleased to announce that the University of Cambridge has chosen the Ex Libris Alma® resource management service and Primo® discovery and delivery solution to help modernize library management and improve the search experience for students, instructors, and researchers.
The University of Cambridge has been using the Ex Libris Voyager® integrated library system for over 13 years and the ProQuest® AquaBrowser® and Summon® discovery systems for the past six years. With the constant growth of the libraries’ digital content and the increasing complexity of library materials, the University now needs a system to manage the full range of resources and library services across the more than 100 Cambridge libraries. The University also wants to provide a single interface for all content to simplify the search process and better serve library users well into the future.
”Improving the experience of students, researchers, and instructors in identifying, finding, and retrieving library collections, regardless of format, is a fundamental part of our strategy,” explained University Librarian Anne Jarvis. ”Primo and Alma will offer enhanced integration with our learning management, repository, archive, and administrative systems. We are eager to unify the management of the University’s digital and print resources, take advantage of the collaborative capabilities of Alma, and enable our users to benefit from a coherent view of the services and collections that are available to them.”
As a cloud-based library management system, Alma will free library resources that previously went into the management of technology and enable them to refocus on new services. With Alma, library staff will also be able to collaborate easily with colleagues throughout the University.
”Primo—the result of extensive Ex Libris research into scholarly search practices—will simplify the search and discovery experience of our students, academics, and researchers,” added Jarvis, ”while the extensive management information delivered by Alma Analytics will fit perfectly with our user-led approach to library services and will help us understand the way in which students and researchers actually use the library systems.”
Ofer Mosseri, corporate vice president and general manager of Ex Libris EMEA, said: ”I am delighted that such a prestigious institution has chosen to join the global Alma and Primo communities. The University of Cambridge libraries’ selection of Alma and Primo shows that our solutions are flexible and powerful enough to support complex academic organisational structures, large and varied collections of resources, and the needs of students and world-renowned scholars alike.”
About Ex Libris
Ex Libris, a ProQuest company, is a leading global provider of cloud-based solutions for higher education. Offering SaaS solutions for the management and discovery of the full spectrum of library and scholarly materials, as well as mobile campus solutions driving student engagement and success, Ex Libris serves thousands of customers in 90 countries. For more information about Ex Libris, see our website, and join us on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter
About Cambridge University Libraries
The libraries of the University of Cambridge house rich and diverse collections of information resources to support the teaching and research of the University. There are over 100 libraries in Cambridge.
The University Library (or UL) welcomes staff and students from all colleges and subject areas. For 600 years, it has been central to the support of teaching and research at Cambridge. More than eight million books and periodicals, one million maps, and many thousands of manuscripts occupy more than 125 miles of shelving, which extends by a further two miles every year.
Department and faculty library collections support teaching and research in subject areas taught at Cambridge and house books from reading lists. Many of these libraries have subject librarians who can provide specialist support and assistance.
Cambridge’s college libraries are private libraries for use by the colleges’ own students and staff. The college library is generally the first library a student visits and is often the most convenient, providing core texts and quiet spaces for study.
