April 20, 2006
Verona, Italy
Atlantis S.r.l., the exclusive distributor of Ex Libris™ products in Italy, is pleased to announce the signing of a contract with the University of Florence for the supply of the ALEPH® 500 integrated library system. During the summer of 2005, the University of Florence, an existing SFX®/MetaLib® customer, issued a European tender for a new integrated library system. Following a comprehensive selection process, Atlantis and the ALEPH 500 solution were chosen from amongst the competition, as this system provided an exact match to the extensive list of technical requirements set forth by the University for current and future needs. Atlantis has provided the University with a inclusive program for migration to ALEPH 500 and for training staff in all of the participating libraries.
Giulia Maraviglia, library system coordinator commented about the choice of ALEPH 500: After over twenty years in which our libraries utilized a legacy system, due to official directives, we will finally be able to open to international standards. Thus we can improve and expand our services to our users and become a member of the large national and international ALEPH community. We, too, like the University of Padua, have based our choice on the assurance received from Atlantis and Ex Libris that our network can continue to collaborate and cooperate with the National Bibliographic Service, using the new communication protocol SBN-MARC.
The University Library System of Florence has, from its inception, cooperated with the ICCU— the Central Institute for the Union Catalogue of Italian Libraries and for Bibliographic Information—to develop the Italian national bibliographic service catalogue (SBN), explains Erwin Linthout, General Manager of Atlantis S.r.l. It is mandatory for the University to maintain its cooperation with the national catalogue. Thanks to an accurate study and development plan, ALEPH 500 and Ex Libris have assured the continuity of this long cooperation between the University of Florence and the SBN catalogue through the development of a new SBN2 interface which uses the SBN-MARC communication protocol, based on a XML schema.
About the University of Florence:
The University of Florence, one of the oldest Italian Universities, traces its origins to the Studium Generale— established by the Florentine Republic in 1321. In 1923 the institution was officially named a university and organized into faculties: Agriculture, Architecture, Arts, Economics, Education, Law, Mathematics, Physical and Natural Sciences, Medicine and Surgery, Pharmacy, and Political Science. The Faculty of Engineering was added to the 10 faculties in 1970.
The University of Florence Library System is comprised of five subject-libraries (Biomedical; Humanistic; Science; Social Science; Technological) which total 645,000 bibliographic records and a central coordination office. All member libraries, some of which maintain multiple points of service (31 in all), catalogue items in the system. The central office coordinates library development policies, manages system organization, and is responsible for library services in several department specific research libraries, dedicated to research activities but not open to the public.
The University of Florence is comprised of several campuses in and around Florence, currently offering study programs in 12 faculties to over 68,000 students.
For additional information on the University of Florence, please see http://www.unifi.it/
About Atlantis:
Atlantis S.r.l., founded in 1989, plays an eminent role in library automation for the academic community of Italy. Atlantis is devoted to providing integrated library systems, consultancy, training, migration, and conversion processes, as well as supporting and upgrading solutions to over 60 important Italian customers. These include 40 university library systems which comprise more than 1,500 individual libraries.
About Ex Libris:
Ex Libris is a leading worldwide developer and provider of high-performance applications for libraries, information centers, and researchers. ALEPH 500, the Ex Libris integrated library solution, has been installed at over 1500 sites in 62 countries. MetaLib, the information portal for library collections, and SFX, the context-sensitive linking solution for heterogeneous electronic resources in the scholarly information environment, have collectively been purchased by more than 900 institutions in 36 countries. DigiTool®, a solution for the construction of digital collections, and Verde®, the electronic resource management (ERM) system, complete the Ex Libris product suite.
