Leuven, January 1st 2000: December saw the European debut of one of the world's most advanced library systems when the University of San Pablo in Madrid went live with version 3.2 of the AMICUS library management system. Based in Leuven, Belgium ELiAS N.V. has created a state-of-the-art system for the library market from that originally designed by the National Library of Canada.
Some of the world's leading national libraries already use AMICUS to manage their bibliographic data. San Pablo are the first in Europe to implement the full range of facilities that the product offers following successful beta testing of the full production version at the Health Department of Western Australia earlier in the year.
San Pablo needed a replacement for their existing LIBERTAS system and examined over 150 alternative bids before deciding on AMICUS. The selection of AMICUS was heavily influenced by the system's modern design and flexibility. The University Librarian, José Morillo-Velarde Serrano said "It is a latest-generation application, both in design and development… and faithfully responds to the questions that arise, including organizational suggestions for such a complex situation as the variety of centres involves."
However, San Pablo will enjoy the celebrity of being unique for only a short time. Later this month another Spanish client, the University of Oviedo goes live, with a third installation at the University of the Basque Country joining the AMICUS family in the early Spring.
Announcing the arrival of AMICUS in the European market Paul Boesmans, General Manager said, "AMICUS has established an outstanding reputation as a powerful product enabling very large libraries to mange complex data. With the release of 3.2 we are now able to deliver this power to the whole library market. During 2000 we will be making additional installations in Spain, together with the company's first installations in Italy and the UK."
