Blacksburg, VA – VTLS has repackaged its Virtua ILS software to make it attractive to smaller libraries. The package is easy to install and more convenient to use as there are many more defaults preconfigured into the software. VTLS is happy to report that Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Bintulu Sarawak campus becomes the first institution to select this package. The implementation went live in May 2009 and includes 8 user licenses and runs on Xeon XC hardware. This includes all the subsystems and Oracle.

The UPM Bintulu campus has a history with VTLS that goes back to the early 1990s, when they started with Micro-VTLS as their ILS. The Universiti Putra Malaysia main campus has also been a VTLS customer for twenty years. However, the Bintulu campus temporarily closed down in 1992 to make way for a new university in Sarawak.

The campus reopened in 2001 as the new Universiti Putra Malaysia Bintulu Sarawak Campus (UPMKB). After using another ILS for a few years, the library decided to migrate to VTLS software, not only because of their past history with VTLS software, but also on the recommendation of the librarians at the UPM main campus who were quite satisfied with the Virtua ILS and the customer service that VTLS provides.

"We have had a relationship with Universiti Putra Malaysia for more than 20 years and we are happy that UPM has extended our relationship to their branch campus. This shows that our mission for providing quality products and services to customers gives customers confidence in the company," says Gina Phan, Director of VTLS Malaysia.

UPM’s Bintulu Sarawak Campus has a primary focus on Agriculture and Food Sciences with five academic departments: Department of Crop Science, Department of Forestry Science, Department of Social Science, Department of Basic Science and Engineering, and Department of Animal Science and Fishery. The library serves this portion of the university with collections targeted toward those departments, and has approximately 43,000 bibliographic records.

The new version of Virtua for smaller libraries is ideally suited for a campus this size. "The launch of the Virtua system at the Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences, UPM Bintulu Campus will be part of the continued improvement of services and realization of the goal to become a Research University Library," said Nathuhain Binti Hj Ibrahim, Acting Head of Library Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences.

About VTLS Inc.

VTLS Inc. (www.vtls.com), a leading library automation company in business for over 30 years, provides visionary technology in library solutions to a diverse customer base of more than 900 libraries in over 32 countries. Virtua is our premier ILS solution, Visualizer is our facet-based data discovery tool, Fastrac is our RFID technology, and we also provide cutting edge software and services for Digital Libraries with Digital Imaging and VITAL, our Repository Services solution. VTLS is one of the few ISO 9001:2000 quality certified companies within the library industry.