Primo Customer Base in Australia Continues to Expand

Primo will transform the discovery experience for users at the University of Ballarat, Macquarie University, and the University of Western Australia

Adelaide, Australia—December 14, 2010. Ex Libris® Group is pleased to announce that a number of institutions in Australia have chosen the Ex Libris Primo® discovery and delivery solution and the Primo Central Index of scholarly e content. Together, these solutions provide users with a unified interface for the discovery and delivery of both their library’s entire collection and global electronic resources. The newest members of the Australian Primo community are the University of Ballarat, Macquarie University, and the University of Western Australia.

Coupled with the vast Primo Central Index of scholarly materials, the Primo solution enables users to search all the physical holdings and e resources of their library through a single point of access and to receive a unified, relevance-ranked list of results. The Primo Central Index covers hundreds of millions of global and regional e resources, such as journal articles and e-books, that are obtained from primary and secondary publishers and aggregators, as well as items obtained from open-access repositories.

Librarians at the University of Western Australia (UWA) recognized that with the advent of Web search engines such as Google, library users increasingly expect to use a single interface to search in a broad bibliographic universe of authoritative sources and to receive highly relevant results. “After an intensive evaluation process, we selected Primo and the Primo Central Index because they best meet our requirements for a single point of access to all our collections—local and global—and provide relevant search results quickly; in addition these Ex Libris systems can be integrated with our Millennium library system,” explained Scott Nicholls, project coordinator of the evaluation team. “Primo also provides comprehensive faceting, which enables users to drill down in a result set when necessary.”

The seamless integration of the Primo Central Index with Primo version 3 played a significant role in UWA’s choice. “Primo Central has broad subject coverage. Our analysis shows that it covers approximately two-thirds of our online collection already. The additions that are planned for the index over the next 12 months will see this figure rise significantly. Most important, Ex Libris is working with commercial index providers, as well as publishers, to greatly increase the metadata held in the Primo Central Index,” added Mr. Nicholls.

The University of Ballarat (UB) chose Primo and the Primo Central Index, both managed by Ex Libris in a cloud-computing environment, to provide students and faculty with a single search interface for the library’s print, electronic, and digital collections. A managed solution was selected to enable the library’s staff members to focus their energy on supporting researchers.

“The University of Ballarat conducted a rigorous selection process, and Primo with Primo Central was found to exceed all of our requirements,” remarked Leeanne Pitman, director of library services. “We were looking for a solution that would enable our students to conduct a single search across the full suite of e resources licensed by UB and retrieve search results that are both relevant and comprehensive. Primo provides these capabilities and more, and can be easily integrated with other UB library systems, including our library catalog and research repository. We look forward to partnering with Ex Libris, a company that is at the forefront of resource discovery.”

Jennifer Peasley, deputy university librarian at Macquarie University, commented: “Macquarie University was seeking a customizable, single-search interface to our collections that would simplify information retrieval for our users and provide greater exposure of our resources. One of the key benefits of Primo for us is that users can carry out library-related activities, such as viewing their borrower record and reserving items on loan, via the Primo system. Primo and the Primo Central Index—in tandem with our new automated storage and retrieval system—will enable users to seamlessly log on and request items from our print, digital, and electronic collections through the Primo interface.”

“I am delighted that these important institutions have chosen Primo and the Primo Central Index as a unified discovery platform for their libraries’ extensive resources,” noted Oded Scharfstein, vice president for Asia Pacific at Ex Libris. “It is particularly exciting to see the integration of Primo as a discovery layer with the Millennium library system at the University of Western Australia.”

“Using Primo with the Primo Central Index,” Scharfstein continued, “researchers and students at UWA, UB, and Macquarie will be able to retrieve instantaneous results from the entire collection of their institution’s library, including the catalog, digital repository, and e resources, via a single search. We are looking forward to working closely with these institutions, which join an active Primo community in the Asia Pacific region.”

About the University of Ballarat
The University of Ballarat (UB) is Australia’s only regional multi-sector university. It has six campuses and is home to about 25,000 international and domestic students. The university is committed to supporting the regional community in Victoria while also maintaining a broad national and international outlook.
For more information about the University of Ballarat, see http://www.ballarat.edu.au/.

About Macquarie University
Macquarie University is a flexible and engaged university committed to excellence in research, teaching, and global citizenship. Macquarie’s location within the high-technology corridor of Sydney's North West enables the University to establish close relationships with some of the world's most successful companies, many of which are located in the University's research park, and allows a collaborative approach to research and teaching to ensure that Macquarie graduates are highly sought after and command high starting salaries. The high-tech location also provides Macquarie students with first-class internship opportunities with leading companies from a range of industries.
For more information about Macquarie University, see www.mq.edu.au/.

About the University of Western Australia
The University of Western Australia is one of Australia’s leading universities and has an international reputation for excellence in teaching, learning, and research. A dynamic and progressive university, UWA is a member of the prestigious Group of Eight partnership of leading Australian universities and offers a diverse range of courses.
For more information about the University of Western Australia, see http://www.uwa.edu.au/.

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 75 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 Initiatives and Commentary blogs, and follow our Twitter page.

Ex Libris
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This release was published on openPR.