Chicago, Illinois — June 24, 2019
With the collections budget shifting toward electronic resources, the combined solutions from Ex Libris, along with third-party system integrations, will improve the patron experience and staff efficiency
Chicago, Illinois—June 24, 2019. Ex Libris®, a ProQuest company, is pleased to announce that the University of Richmond has selected the Ex Libris Alma® library services platform and Ex Libris Primo® discovery and delivery solution. This combination will enable the university to scale its electronic resource management to meet the needs of its undergraduate and research-focused patrons.
The University of Richmond is a liberal arts college serving mostly undergraduates, with a curriculum that emphasizes rigorous undergraduate research and collaboration with teaching faculty. The university’s library system consists of the Boatwright Memorial Library (the campus’s main library), Parsons Music Library, and William Taylor Muse Law Library. In addition to supporting the faculty’s scholarly activities, the libraries aim to provide collections and services at the level of a research institution, though with the budget and staff of a liberal arts college.
Leveraging the Alma Analytics module will enable us to demonstrate the broad impact of our library services, increase the university’s return on investment, and support more evidence-based decision making.
To meet these high expectations, the university plans to take advantage of the Alma platform’s efficiency optimizations to streamline workflows and improve collaboration. By means of the unified capabilities of the Alma and Primo integration, the university will consolidate its various digital collections to make them all discoverable through a single interface.
Through the Primo customization options, the libraries will be able to finely tune and optimize the front-end user experience for all categories of users, tailored to their discipline or status (for example, incoming freshmen or senior faculty members). And while the three libraries will all use the Primo search and discovery features, the university will configure different views and search settings for each of the campus libraries.
The University of Richmond libraries will also rely on the integrated Alma workflows, external integrations, and Ex Libris Community Zone to eliminate duplication of effort. In this way, time and resources can be devoted to solving local problems, maintaining the accuracy of unique, locally generated data, and working on exciting new initiatives like linked data enhancements and enhanced integration of the digital collections.
“We see a growing trend toward the use of electronic and digital resources. Our strategy requires that we efficiently manage these resources so that we can achieve the scale and quality of service that our patrons demand,” explained Jonathan Shank, head of Budget, Acquisitions and Discovery at the university’s Boatwright Memorial Library. “Also, leveraging the Alma Analytics module will enable us to demonstrate the broad impact of our library services, increase the university’s return on investment, and support more evidence-based decision making.”
“Ex Libris is happy to welcome the University of Richmond libraries to the Alma and Primo user communities. The library staff will enjoy a streamlined, unified resource management experience, while the students will search the university’s large, diverse collections with ease to fulfill their coursework and research needs,” remarked Eric Hines, president of Ex Libris North America.
About the University of Richmond
Located in Richmond, Virginia, the University of Richmond blends the intimacy of a small college with exceptional academic, research, and cultural opportunities usually found only at large institutions. It is a private, highly selective, liberal arts university with a welcoming spirit that prizes diversity of experience and thought. Richmond offers a unique combination of undergraduate and graduate programs. The School of Arts & Sciences anchors Richmond as a nationally ranked liberal arts university. A top-ranked business school, the nation’s first school of leadership studies, a highly respected law school, a nationally recognized international education program, and the community-focused School of Professional and Continuing Studies build on that strong foundation and make this university something unique.
The University of Richmond libraries encompass the Boatwright Memorial Library, Parsons Music Library, and William Taylor Muse Law Library. Combined, they represent an extensive collection of books, electronic and digital resources, bound periodicals and journals, and 460 research databases available through library computers, university computer labs, and off campus.
About Ex Libris
Ex Libris, a ProQuest company, is a leading global provider of cloud-based solutions that enable institutions and their individual users to create, manage, and share knowledge. In close collaboration with its customers and the broader community, Ex Libris develops creative solutions that increase library productivity, maximize the impact of research activities, enhance teaching and learning, and drive student mobile engagement. Ex Libris serves over 7,500 customers in 90 countries. For more information, see our website and join us on LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.
