The libraries of the Pontificia Universidad Catalica de Chile have selected ALEPH500 from Ex Libris as their new library automation system.
The university, established in 1888, has been a very important institution in Chile. Historically, Pontificia has been a leader in the country and in greater Latin America in providing quality education to over 15,000 students and in providing the students and faculty in the highest quality in library services. In the early 1990s, Pontificia was one of the first Latin American universities to implement Dynix. By linking their system with the NOTIS system of the Red Nacional do Información Bibliografica (RENIB) for authority contol, Pontificia implemented a state-of the-art solution at that time.
In the passing years, Pontificia recognized that the benefits of a modern system was needed to continue to place the best research tools at the disposal of their patrons. After a 2-year process of evaluation, Pontificia has selected and contracted with Ex Libris to convert data, train staff and implement ALEPH500.
Working cooperatively with the ALEPH distributor in Central and the northern part of South America, Sistemas Logicos, the project has all ready begun. In this month, converted BIB and ITEM files from the Dynix system, and the converted Authority files from the NOTIS system are being installed at the university. The project plan calls for OPAC, Circulation and Cataloging to be operational by mid-year, with Acquisitions and Serials Control to follow. When fully operational, more than 200 staff and patrons will be connected to the system.
Maria Luisa Arenas Franco, Directora del Sistema de Bibliotecas, said, "After analysing several options, the library system chose an alternative that was best for our requirements and one that is present in other important academic libraries in Latin America. We are very comfortable that ALEPH is such a system."
The Pontificia is one of the universities that enjoys an excellent relationship with the Information Technology organization. The analysis was a combined effort, and the implemention project will take advantage of the professionals from both IT and the library. The Coordinadora Sistemas Informáticos SIBUC, Ana Lucía Keim Cortez said, "We have worked very hard to build a project plan that would provide the benefits of ALEPH as soon as possible. We will be working closely with Ex Libris and Sistemas Logicos to build a modern and flexible library automation system, which allow us to move into the next decade."
ALEPH now is in 500 installations in 40 countries. Ex Libris World Headquarters are in Israel with offices in Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv. The company also maintains sales and support offices in the USA, Brazil, Argentina, Great Britain, Luxembourg, and Germany, and has exclusive distributors in Denmark, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Portugal and South Africa.
