Ex Libris®, a ProQuest company, is pleased to announce that the Swiss Library Service Platform (SLSP) has signed an agreement to join the early adopter program for the Ex Libris Rapido™ resource sharing solution. A national library network for Swiss universities and research institutions, SLSP is scheduled to go live in 2021 and is the first Rapido network in Europe. As a member of the early adopter program, SLSP will help shape Rapido’s roadmap.
Built on the Ex Libris higher‑ed cloud platform, Rapido offers an advanced and up-to-date user experience and fully automates the entire resource sharing process while utilizing advanced technologies and smart decision-making rules. Rapido provides patrons with an intuitive, streamlined service from discovery to delivery of all resource types, and is designed to handle large numbers of requests in a cost-effective way.
In light of the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact it has on library budgets, resource sharing has become even more critical. The Rapido resource sharing solution is essential to library networks, whose patrons require easy and fast access to materials that they do not own.
Two years ago, when designing the infrastructure for its new network, SLSP selected the Ex Libris Alma® library management platform and the Ex Libris Primo® discovery solution. The choice of the Rapido platform is a natural expansion of that infrastructure and will provide the SLSP network with advanced resource sharing workflows that are fully integrated with the Alma platform and Primo solution.
The impetus to search for a new resource sharing solution was the result of SLSP’s decision to offer an enhanced national courier service that will support the delivery of items to and from the network’s 475 libraries throughout Switzerland. The Rapido concept of resource sharing groups (“pods”) coupled with an advanced and automated rule system for finding the resource that best matches the location and availability of the requested item will enable SLSP to streamline delivery via the new SLSP courier and local couriers. With this service, the cost and expected delivery date of items will be fully transparent to SLSP patrons and librarians.
SLSP Vice-Director Jürgen Küssow commented, “Our member libraries are eager to experience the ease with which the Rapido solution will handle the delivery of materials throughout Switzerland regardless of courier. With the Rapido solution integrated with the Alma and Primo systems, we will be fulfilling our goal of implementing innovative services that require little manual intervention.”
Ofer Mosseri, corporate vice president and general manager of Ex Libris EMEA, said, “We are delighted to be partnering with the Swiss Library Service Platform and look forward to the group’s contribution to the Rapido early adopter program. The Rapido solution will simplify resource sharing and, most important, will deliver a better user experience for both staff and patrons.”
