June 10, 1998. The University of St. Andrews, founded in the 15th century, and one of Scotland's oldest universities, today announced the signing of a contract to upgrade the University's LIBERTAS library automation system to INNOPAC Millennium. The software will extend the services already available at the University Library, partly by introducing Web access to the Library's own catalog system and partly by providing a link to other information services on the Internet. These significant improvements ensure the library will provide one of the best facilities of any library in the UK. Work on upgrading the system will take place in 1999.

The University of St. Andrews Library has a collection of more than one million volumes, 45% of which are listed in the online catalog. Under the United Kingdom's Copyright Act between 1710 and 1837 the library received a free copy of every book printed in Britain. As a result the Library has an outstanding collection of early printing with more than 80,000 rare books, including about 150 incunabula (books printed before 1501).

Neil Dumbleton, Head Librarian, says "St. Andrews has always strived to maximize what it can provide using new technology. I am delighted at the opportunity to switch to INNOPAC and the new integrated service will provide a straightforward gateway for students and researchers. The Library system will become a one-stop shop for information services".

Integrated Web access will be of enormous benefit to remote users around the university. It will provide links to the online catalogues of the major research libraries around the world as well as to electronic journals and other full-text and reference databases now available.

The Library is planning to use INNOPAC Millennium to offer electronic versions of past exam papers and copyright cleared recommended texts. The INNOPAC Millennium system will also improve the short loan booking computer system which has been very successful at St. Andrews. This enables anyone to request a text for a particular time and date via the Library's web site. The service maximizes the availability of books and allows users to have access to a particular text at a time suitable for themselves.