HUNTSVILLE, Ala.—April 7, 2005—Sirsi Corporation announced today that CAUL/CBUA (Council of Atlantic University Libraries/ Conseil des bibliothèques de l'Atlantique), a consortium of 17 universities in four provinces in Atlantic Canada, is planning to launch the Atlantic Scholarly Information Network (ASIN) Portal, a resource discovery and content management system that will deliver scholarly information and services, regardless of format, to more than 80,000 students, faculty, and staff. Set to launch in September 2005, the portal will use the Sirsi Enterprise Portal Solution to fulfill the expectations of contemporary users who require access to whatever information they need from wherever it resides.
“The ASIN Portal is a significant step in the creation of an Atlantic Research Library that is relevant, meets the needs of our students and faculty, and acknowledges and explores new approaches to information discovery and research," said Susan Collins, chair of CAUL/CBUA.
“Since we first heard about it, we've been intrigued by the ASIN initiative,” said Patrick Sommers, Sirsi CEO. “It's no overstatement to say that CAUL/CBUA is breaking new ground in scholarly research, as well as in efforts to enhance the academic student experience – areas that Sirsi is focused on with products such as the Sirsi Enterprise Portal Solution and Sirsi Rooms.” Sommers continued, “CAUL/CBUA is just one of the more than 500 academic institutions that Sirsi serves, and we look forward to working with all of them as they continue to shape the future of scholarship and learning.”
CAUL/CBUA decided to create the portal to enable library users throughout the region to easily discover, request, and access high-quality content through a single interface. Their goal is to make it easy for users to access excellent scholarly resources – both licensed and free – and benefit from regional access to those resources. As an organization known for its successful collaboration, CAUL/CBUA considers the portal an exciting opportunity to collaborate in the development of another first-rate, user-centered service.
“We wanted to provide our users with easy access to high-quality resources so that they don't have to settle for resources that may be easy-to-find but of questionable or poor value,” said Steve MacNeil, project manager for the ASIN Portal. “If we can take away the impediments to accessing scholarly resources – such as not requiring users to learn the specifics of searching particular resources – and instead let them search a wide range of resources within the context of a given subject or discipline, they'll be better equipped to achieve their academic goals.”
CAUL/CBUA chose Sirsi technology after evaluating vendors based on five key criteria: metasearching client, OpenURL resolver and knowledgebase, Web-based resource management tool, authentication module, and demonstration system.
Supporting resource discovery, as well as in-depth searches of already-identified information, the ASIN Portal empowers users to find information through the following ways:
- Discovery – Using Sirsi Enterprise Portal Solution with Sirsi Rooms 2.0, academic libraries will enable users to discover knowledge in context
- Exploration – Using Sirsi SingleSearch federated search technology, users can explore the depths of vast electronic resources simultaneously
- Retrieval – The portal will present results merged into a single set from catalogs, reference and full-text databases, tutorials, RSS feeds, virtual reference chats, and more – all from a single interface
- Requesting – Using Sirsi Resolver OpenURL reference linking tool, accessing e-resources licensed by the 17 institutions has never been easier
- Receiving – For digital resources, users receive appropriate copy, along with any other available resources; while for non-digital items, interlibrary loan (ILL) requests will be fulfilled automatically, using Relais ILL from Relais International, putting what users need right into their hands.
About the Atlantic Scholarly Information Network
The Atlantic Scholarly Information Network (ASIN) is an initiative of the CAUL/CBUA (Council of Atlantic University Libraries/Conseil des bibliothèques de l'Atlantique) aimed at facilitating greater cooperation and resource sharing between libraries in Atlantic Canada. Its 17 members include Acadia University, Atlantic School of Theology, Dalhousie University, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Mount Allison University, Mount Saint Vincent University, Nova Scotia Agricultural College, NSCAD University, Saint Mary's University, St. Francis Xavier University, St. Thomas University, Université de Moncton, Université Sainte-Anne, Cape Breton University, University of King's College, University of New Brunswick, and University of Prince Edward Island.
About Sirsi Corporation
Founded in 1979, Sirsi Corporation develops, sells, and supports a comprehensive integrated suite of software solutions for meeting the information management and sharing needs of libraries and library users around the world. From the open, evolutionary integrated library system technology in the Sirsi Unicorn Library Management System… to leading-edge data analysis and intelligence tools in Sirsi Director's Station… to leading-edge solutions such as Sirsi Rooms 2.0 for library users seeking unparalleled access to the world of knowledge… Sirsi and its partners provide the broadest array of information management products and services for the library community. Sirsi solutions serve more than 10,000 libraries in the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. For more information about Sirsi, please see www.sirsi.com.
