Blacksburg, VA - The Walter H. Annenberg Library at The Peddie School in Hightstown, NJ has gone live with Virtua ILS - Integrated Library Systems and Chameleon iPortal. Serving grades 8 - 12, The Peddie School is the most recent example of Virtua's scalability to serve both large academic and small school libraries without compromising the powerful and flexible features of the system.

"After conducting a thorough evaluation of all the automation vendors, [The Peddie School] concluded that Virtua's OPAC was the best out there. We believe Virtua rivals any other system in the marketplace," said Brian Dubrule, Library Director. "Through the customized Chameleon iPortal, our OPAC is the source of all information for our students. Everyone on campus has the ability to search our catalogue, find library handouts, surf the World Wide Web, locate the dining hall menu and check the calendar for school activities. Under Virtua's Chameleon iPortal, all our information is centralized."

Founded in 1864, The Peddie School is in the forefront of innovative education. The private school offers its 500 students some of the best resources of any secondary school, including full access to the Internet in classrooms and dormitories. Since 1998, all students and faculty have been working from personal laptop computers. The 30,000-volume library is at the heart of a campus-wide, fiber-optic computer network that enables students to have 24-hour access to the Internet at more than 200 access points around the campus.

Formerly an Athena site, The Peddie School purchased Virtua ILS with a 20-user license.

"Since we implemented Virtua's Chameleon iPortal, the hits to access the library's resources have jumped significantly. Many of the students use the library as their main source of information and have already changed their homepage to our library's site. In this way, VTLS shared our vision of how the OPAC would serve our students." Dubrule says.

"We are delighted that The Peddie School selected Virtua. We were impressed by the fact that students carry their own laptops from class to class. They have high expectations of the systems they use, and we are pleased to be a part of their sophisticated offerings," says Dr. Vinod Chachra, President of VTLS Inc.

About VTLS Inc.

VTLS Inc. (www.vtls.com) is an ISO 9001 registered company. With over 25 years of experience creating smarter libraries, museums, archives and corporations, VTLS Inc. is an international leader in integrated library automation, digital imaging services and RFID technology. VTLS Inc. solutions include Virtua ILS - Integrated Library Systems, Visual MIS - Multimedia and Imaging Solutions and Vista CPS - Companion Product Suite. VTLS is a corporate member of the American Library Association, a voting member of NISO, and a charter member and sponsor of CNI. A diverse customer base of more than 900 libraries located in 32 countries gives VTLS a global perspective of the industry and compels the company to abide by strict international standards.