In a blow-by-blow series, Datapoint France, our exclusive distributor, announces that the university libraries of Paris IV University have chosen ALEPH 500, a few weeks only after being awarded similar contracts by the Rene Descartes (Paris V) University and the Catholic University of Lyon.

Behind the rather unromantic designation «Paris IV» hides none other than the venerable Sorbonne, among the world`s oldest and most renowned universities.

Founded in 1253 as a theological college for poor students, the Sorbonne was for centuries the Paris University. The only remnant of the original building is the Sorbonne church, where Cardinal Richelieu, President of the Sorbonne in the early 17th century and founder of the Academie Francaise, lies buried. Nowadays, its faculties are located at several sites in Paris intra muros. The Paris academy numbers over a dozen autonomous universities, five of which so far are ALEPH users.

The Sorbonne currently counts 28,000 students, 750 teaching staff and 460 administrative and technical staff, including some 60 librarians at its three central and five branch libraries. It is the liberal arts university par excellence, offering curricula in literature, foreign languages, grammar, linguistics, philosophy, history, archeology, music and musicology. Its libraries display some 150,000 notices, 1,330 periodicals and include on-site consultations of their large reference holdings.

Datapoint will have overall responsibility for the automation project, including integration of ALEPH with the Archimed search tool, setup, installation, training and maintenance. Initially, ALEPH will be licensed on 75 concurrent users. The implementation will stretch over an 18-month period, with cataloging and circulation planned to be operational by January 2000.