September 10, 2012
UEL’s Stratford and Docklands campuses are the latest sites to go live with the Alma unified resource management solution London, UK—September 10, 2012. Ex Libris® Group, a global leader in library automation solutions, is pleased to announce that the University of East London (UEL) is now live with the Ex Libris Alma library management solution. Situated in Stratford and Docklands, within Europe’s largest regeneration area, the University of East London is among more than 100 institutions that have chosen Alma. The Alma library service replaces several Ex Libris systems previously deployed for managing the university’s print and electronic collections: the Aleph® integrated library system, the SFX® Open URL link resolver, and the Verde® electronic resource management system. UEL has now consolidated its suite of Ex Libris systems into two next-generation solutions: Alma, which offers unified resource management, and the Primo® discovery and delivery solution, which the university adopted in 2009 to provide users with a single discovery platform. Gurdish Sandhu, associate director of Library and Learning Services, commented: ”Alma lays a solid foundation for our digital library to transform students’ learning experience. It further develops our capabilities in terms of our technical platform and staffing competence to provide innovative services to our user community.” Members of UEL’s Library and Learning Services department are looking forward to managing one application instead of five and to enjoying the associated reduction in training and maintenance overheads. ”Since Alma is deployed as a highly resilient cloud-based service, we will benefit from a reduced total cost of ownership,” Nick Jarrett, systems manager, remarked. ”In addition, Alma will significantly improve our return on investment by allowing us to manage our resources with combined workflows for all resource types. Alma’s cloud deployment reduces both the capital and staff costs associated with maintaining locally hosted library systems,” Mr Jarrett added. Adjoa Boateng, collections development manager, noted that ”the arrival of Alma will enable us to make the most of potential future initiatives and will offer definite enhancements to the research experience of all UEL library users.” ”We are very pleased to see UEL live with Alma,” commented Bar Veinstein, vice president for resource management solutions at Ex Libris. ”Alma’s advanced framework for the unified management of library resources and operations will enable UEL to increase efficiency and further its leadership in the library technology field. Ex Libris is looking forward to continuing its close collaboration with the university as Alma becomes a pivotal element in the community’s academic pursuits.” About the University of East London With over 28,000 students from over 120 countries worldwide, the University of East London (UEL) is one of the UK’s most diverse and fastest growing universities. Its vision is to be an enterprising, international university that brings transformational opportunities to individuals, communities, and businesses in our region. A higher education institution with more than a century of history behind it, the University of East London and its founding institutions have a long tradition of being at the forefront of innovation in education. UEL has strong links with local and national businesses and an outstanding record in broadening access to students from non-traditional backgrounds. For more information, see http://www.uel.ac.uk/. 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 efficient, user-friendly solutions that serve the needs of libraries today and will facilitate their transition into the future. Ex Libris maintains an impressive customer base consisting of over 5,000 sites in more than 80 countries on six continents. Dedicated to developing creative solutions in close collaboration with customers, Ex Libris enables academic, national, and research libraries to maximize productivity and efficiency, while at the same time greatly enhancing the user experience. By empowering users to discover and obtain the information they need, libraries ensure their position as the bridge to knowledge. For more information about Ex Libris Group, see our Web site, join us on Facebook, view our videos, and follow our Twitter page.
