DES PLAINES, ILLINOIS, Nov. 21, 2001: Endeavor Information Systems announced today the Sistema Universitario Ana G. Méndez (SUAGM), a group of three universities headquartered in San Juan, will be the first library in Puerto Rico to implement the Voyager integrated library management system. SUAGM includes the libraries of Universidad Metropolitana, Universidad del Este, and the Universidad del Turabo, plus the Centro de Telecomunicacions y Educación de Distancia, a distance learning center. Voyager replaces a DRA Classic system for SUAGM.
"The major reason we needed to change to a new system was our commitment to support the growing academic programs at our three universities and our interest to promote distance learning for SUAGM," explained Dr. Ketty Rodriguez, Dean of Learning Resources for Universidad del Turabo. She said the Universities have expanded to include multiple satellite centers across the island, so it is very necessary for students to be able to access the library's holdings from anywhere in Puerto Rico, not just San Juan, Cupey, or Carolina. Rodriguez noted as the demand for diverse university offerings in bachelor, masters and doctoral programs increase, the library's role in serving diverse needs across the island also expands. "We needed a good library management system to manage the systems regardless of where courses are offered," Rodriguez noted. "With Voyager, any student can access the system no matter where they are located."
"As Web-based catalog and an integrated system, Voyager allows us to take advantage of the Internet as a tool as well as a resource," explained Rodriguez. SUAGM is also offering distance learning through totally online courses and teleclasses delivered via three television channels. "We may never see those students in the library, so electronic research is important and now will be accessible over the Web."
She explained SUAGM reviewed three systems and found Voyager's reporting capabilities to be a major advantage. "Voyager provides a whole lot more in the capability to provide reports—we weren't happy with our current systems' report generating," Rodriguez explained, noting Voyager's local control for all reporting would be beneficial for the libraries.
The flexibility to customize Voyager's OPAC is another advantage for SUAGM, who plans to present the OPAC entirely in Spanish. With Voyager's local customization options for the OPAC's appearance, phrases and radio buttons, each SUAGM library can redesign the out of the box Voyager OPAC to meet the local needs and customs.
SUAGM can also integrate course reserve information with the online OPAC. "We were impressed with the capabilities for electronic reserves," Rodriguez explained. "Voyager has the capability of organizing the traditional reserves, only online, and provides sorting by course or by professor."
"Endeavor is continually working with academic and research libraries to anticipate what is needed in the future of information access. We are very pleased to know SUAGM can take full advantage of Voyager's functionality for distance learning," said Jane Burke, Endeavor President and CEO. "With Web-based access across the island and around the globe, SUAGM can expand access to the traditional library catalog and also provide non-traditional catalog features such as electronic course reserve access and URL linking."
About Endeavor Information Systems
Endeavor Information Systems, based in Des Plaines, IL, was founded in September of 1994. Over 850 academic and research libraries of every size have chosen Endeavor's high performance Voyager integrated library system. Endeavor offers a complete line of library solutions for traditional and digital collections. Visit http://www.endinfosys.com/customers/custlist.htm to view customized their local OPACs at Voyager libraries. Visit Endeavor at www.endinfosys.com for more information about Voyager, ENCompass, LinkFinderPlus, or careers at Endeavor.