Library automation solutions provider Ex Libris Group, Israel, has announced that the company's next-generation library management solution has been named Ex Libris Alma. Harnessing the Unified Resource Management (URM) framework, Alma supports the entire range of library operations - selection, acquisition, metadata management, digitisation and fulfillment - for all library materials, regardless of their format or location.
The Ex Libris Alma solution accelerates libraries' move toward next-generation services by consolidating, optimising, and extending library workflows. Alma consolidates the disparate systems used by today's libraries to manage print, electronic, and digital resources. Alma's cloud infrastructure seeks to help libraries improve their operational efficiency through data sharing and collaboration. As a result, libraries can focus their resources on extending services within and outside the institution and on supporting the institution's teaching and research missions.
Like all Ex Libris products, Alma is being developed with extensive input from the company's global customer community. The Alma development partners are Boston College; Princeton University Library; Purdue University Library; and K.U.Leuven, which includes the LIBIS library network of 30 independent member organisations (universities, colleges, parliaments, specialized libraries) and a network of public libraries.
In keeping with development timelines, Alma's third release to development partners will take place in March 2011. The general release of the Alma solution is scheduled for early 2012.
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