Ex Libris® Group, a world leader in the provision of library automation solutions, is pleased to announce that Macquarie University has selected the Alma library management solution. By adding Alma to the Primo® discovery and delivery solution, which the Macquarie community uses for searching the university library’s local and global collections, Macquarie offers staff members and researchers a single environment for resource management and discovery. This environment provides seamless access to library resources as well as a range of new services. Macquarie joins over 120 other institutions worldwide that have chosen to take advantage of the tight integration between Alma and Primo for the management and discovery of all resource types and collections.
JoAnne Sparks, university librarian at Macquarie University, commented: “As students and academics move from accessing their content in the print world to mostly electronic offerings, there is a growing gap between the functionality required for managing, exposing, and enabling the discovery of electronic resources and the functionality of the traditional, print-oriented library catalog and related back-office software. We were seeking a next-generation library system that would manage our increasingly electronic collections more effectively and would integrate seamlessly with our Primo discovery system. A key requirement was the ability of the new system to integrate with our automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS), which provides access to 80% of the library’s print collection. Alma is the only solution on the market that meets this requirement.
“Through Alma, we can consolidate the management of electronic, print, and digital collections,” continued Ms. Sparks. “The solution’s tight integration with Primo enables us to meet the needs of our clients, who can now access library services such as reservations and loans via a single interface. Our staff members are excited by the opportunities that the Alma Analytics module affords us for evaluating our resources and collections—thus introducing a strong future focus into our collection development efforts. With our move to Alma, we look forward to continuing our long partnership with Ex Libris and the Ex Libris user community.”
Holley Dumble, Ex Libris director of sales for Australia and New Zealand, remarked: “The trend of moving solutions to the cloud demonstrates academic libraries’ enthusiasm for collaborating on a global scale and providing their institution with tangible benefits, such as lower costs, higher productivity, and an enhanced discovery experience. We are delighted that Macquarie University has become the first new Alma site in 2013, joining the active customer community that has sprung up around the cloud-based Alma solution, particularly in Australia.”
