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Borrow Direct Selects Relais

Press Release: Relais International [December 9, 2009]

Borrow Direct - a rapid book request and delivery service for faculty, staff and students of Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton and Yale is moving to a next-generation software platform to be provided by Relais International and Index Data. Borrow Direct allows patrons to search across the member library catalogs simultaneously and request circulating items directly from any partner library. Expedited request processing and shipping by all libraries guarantees a 2-4 day turnaround.

Relais International and Index Data are working together to provide a standards based, open system for Borrow Direct that will offer a framework upon which new services and options can be offered to patrons. Index Data is using its MasterKey Platform as the basis for a fully featured discovery layer for patrons. A ‘live’ availability check will notify the patron immediately as to whether the material they wanted can be supplied from a Borrow Direct member. Should the material not be available, the options to submit a request for processing via traditional ILL will be provided. Relais request management will provide the ability for staff to update requests as appropriate and automatically notify patrons at key points. Interoperability with the member libraries integrated library systems for automatic circulation updates will be provided via NCIP and proprietary means, where required.

Clare MacKeigan, COO of Relais International, says "We are delighted to be working together with Index Data and the Borrow Direct members to provide a new platform for the Borrow Direct service to address both the immediate needs of these libraries and their patrons and to build a framework for the next generation of Discovery to Delivery."

Remarks Lynn Bailey, CEO of Index Data, "Nothing pleases us more than helping to put together a powerful new service based in part on our suite of information discovery tools. We have every expectation that the Borrow Direct solution will provide an empowering user experience."

Bob Krall, Director of the University of Pennsylvania Libraries, and Borrow Direct Project Manager says "Since its introduction in late 1999, Borrow Direct has supplied nearly one million books to scholars through this efficient, very popular user-initiated service. We look forward to our partnership with Relais, International and Index Data to offer an enhanced user experience for the request and delivery of library materials to support the research, teaching, and learning activities of our faculty and students.

Relais International Inc is based in Ottawa, Canada and has been selling systems to support resource sharing, interlibrary loan and document delivery services since 1996. Relais International (www.relais-intl.com) assists libraries in implementing intelligent and automated methods to support requesting through to delivery of documents. Relais products range from scanning stations through to fully integrated request management, scanning and delivery software suitable for a single library through to a consortium.

Index Data is a software development and consulting enterprise with offices in Copenhagen, the UK, Germany, the United States and Canada. We are experts in networked information retrieval and management, and have a fifteen-year history of developing powerful, reusable software tools. The Index Data mission is to use our skills and creativity to build bridges between people, technologies and organizations, and to empower information providers to deliver better, more integrated services. For more information, visit www.indexdata.com.

Press Contact: David Dorman / dorman@indexdata.com / 860-389-1568

Borrow Direct is a user-driven resource sharing fulfillment service operated by a partnership of seven major research libraries in the United States. It provides rapid, predictable delivery of printed research material from the nearly 40,000,000 volume combined collection held by the partner libraries.

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Publication Year:2009
Type of Material:Press Release
Language English
Issue:December 9, 2009
Publisher:Relais International
Company: Relais International
Subject: System announcements -- selection
Record Number:14411
Last Update:2025-02-16 14:14:15
Date Created:2009-12-09 11:21:07
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