Dutch Universities Select Primo and Migrate to the Ex Libris Cloud Environment

Article recommendations, OPAC functionality, flexibility, and seamless integration sealed the universities’ decision

Hamburg, Germany—August 18, 2011. Ex Libris® Group, a world leader in the provision of library automation solutions, is pleased to announce that Leiden University, Universiteit van Amsterdam (the University of Amsterdam, or UvA), and Hogeschool van Amsterdam (the University of Applied Sciences, or HvA) have selected a cloud-based installation of the Primo® discovery and delivery solution, including the Primo Central Index of scholarly electronic resources.

All three universities run the Ex Libris Aleph® integrated library system, MetaLib® metasearch system, and SFX® OpenURL link resolver. In addition to adopting the cloud-based Primo Direct service, the universities are moving their implementations of MetaLib and SFX to the Ex Libris cloud environment.

Nol Verhagen, library director at UvA, commented: “We are very excited to have started this important project with Ex Libris. By implementing a unified solution that covers the full breadth of our library resources, both local collections and licensed collections, we will exceed our users’ expectations for a one-stop search experience. Primo also integrates with the bX article recommender service, to which we already subscribe, thereby providing our users with insightful recommendations along with the search results.”

“A cloud-based solution that can be integrated with digital learning and research environments was a decisive factor for the library,” noted Kurt De Belder, university librarian at Leiden University. “We consider the Primo discovery and delivery solution the most advanced in the market, one that will support the educational and research goals of Leiden University in exciting and innovative ways.”

“We are delighted to welcome these distinguished institutions, including our first hogeschool Primo customer, to the European Primo community,” remarked Ullrich Jüngling, Ex Libris vice president of sales for Central and East Europe. “The adoption of Primo and the Primo Central Index by UvA and Leiden University, which have been Ex Libris customers for over a decade, heralds a new phase in our partnership. We also support the universities’ decision to migrate some of their Ex Libris solutions to the cloud, following the opening of our new cloud-services data center in the Netherlands.”

About the University of Amsterdam
Established in 1632, the University of Amsterdam (UvA), with a staff of 5,000, now serves approximately 40,000 students. Ranking among the largest comprehensive universities of Europe, UvA belongs to the League of European Research Universities and maintains intensive contact with universities all over the world. The university has seven faculties: humanities, social and behavioral sciences, economics and business, law, natural sciences, medicine, and dentistry.

For more information about the University of Amsterdam, see http://www.uva.nl.

About Hogeschool van Amsterdam
The Hogeschool van Amsterdam (the University of Applied Sciences, or HvA), offers over eighty courses of study, spread across various locations in Amsterdam and Almere, and currently has an enrollment of more than 30,000 students. Partnering with the business community, HvA sets as its mission the development of innovative, well-educated professionals.

For more information about the Hogeschool van Amsterdam, see http://www.international.hva.nl/.

About Leiden University
Founded in 1575, Leiden University is the oldest institution of higher education in the Netherlands. An internationally renowned research university, Leiden is a member of the League of European Research Universities and holds partnerships with other prominent research institutions around the world. Leiden has seven faculties: archaeology, humanities, medicine, law, social and behavioral sciences, science, and Campus The Hague.

For more information about Leiden University, see http://www.leiden.edu/.

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 products that serve the needs of libraries today and will facilitate their transition into the future. Ex Libris maintains an impressive customer base consisting of thousands of 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 and, at the same time, greatly enhance 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, visit our Commentary blog, and follow our Twitter page.

Ex Libris
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This release was published on openPR.