a) The Royal Society of Medicine implements Unicorn
The library at The Royal Society of Medicine has implemented the Unicorn Collection Management System to provide an integrated library management system to replace its previous Genesis library system.
The Unicorn system has been installed under the HP/UX operating system on a Hewlett-Parkard 9000 and will provide access to OPAC services through the World Wide Web via WebCat. Access to staff functions will be via a graphical user interface. Modules purchased include OPAC, cataloguing, authority control, circulation, interlibrary loans, current awareness and SDI, and serials control.
The library at The Royal Society of Medicine is one of the largest medical collections in Europe. It has a collection of over half a million items and 2,000 current periodical subscriptions which are available to over 17,000 members supported by 31 professional Information Services staff.
Richard Gough, Project Manager and Head of Information Technology at The Royal Society of Medicine, commented: “Unicorn was chosen after careful and detailed evaluation of the Society's requirements and the capabilities of library systems in the UK. Unicorn is a well-established system noted for its range and depth of functionality and its continual development. This should ensure that the Society provides members with state-of-the-art library services into the new millennium; which will see the Society reaching its bi-centenary in 2005.”
b) Brigham Young University chooses Unicorn
The libraries of Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, USA have purchased Sirsi's Unicorn Library Management System. BYU Library representatives report that the Unicorn system, when installed this summer, will enable them to fulfil the university's goal of providing a client/server library system that is easy for users to access and for library staff to upgrade. “With Unicorn, we believe that we have chosen the best system available in the marketplace today,” commented Bill Lund, chairperson of BYU's library information systems department.
According to Randy Olsen, Deputy University Librarian, “The capabilities of the Sirsi system moved us toward our University President's vision of creating a digital library by the year 2000. We look forward to using Sirsi's Hyperion Digital Media Archive to make more of our unique holdings, including digitised text, sound, video, manuscripts and photographs, directly available to our patrons at locations outside the library.” The Sirsi system will also enable the library to provide BYU's distance education students with an additional learning tool, Olsen added: “BYU has one of the largest distance education programmes in the United States, with more than 40,000 students enrolled. In a pilot project that will begin this summer, the library plans to digitise and place online multimedia materials that support a course in the history of Western civilisation.”
Beginning later in 1998, Sirsi's WebCat Online Public Access Catalogue will be accessible from BYU offices, dorms, student labs and other workstations with Web browsers. “WebCat will enable our users easily to conduct complex searches without assistance and to initiate holds from their workstations,” said Julene Butler, BYU Assistant University Librarian for public services. Butler added that WebCat will also be available at each of the 1,400 tables and carrels in BYU's new, 235,000 square foot, library addition, scheduled to open in February 1999.
c) Queen Margaret College selects Unicorn
The library at Queen Margaret College Edinburgh has chosen the Unicorn Collection Management System to provide an integrated library management system to replace its existing URICA library system.
The Unicorn system will be installed under the Solaris operating system on a Sun Enterprise 2 and will provide access via a graphical user interface to OPAC services, cataloguing, authority control, circulation, interlibrary loans, academic reserves, acquisitions and serials control, together with an information gateway to external services over the Internet. Access to the OPAC will also be available using Web browsers via WebCat.
Queen Margaret College, Edinburgh is a university-sector institution on two campuses providing a wide range of undergraduate, postgraduate and research degrees, as well as specialist research and consultancy for employers and the professions.
The library at Queen Margaret College contains nearly 100,000 books, 1,500 audio-visual items and subscribes to about 1,000 current periodicals. It provides networked access to the library catalogue, CD-ROMs and Internet services across the two campuses. There are 24 library staff, serving a student population of about 3,000 full-time students and over 2,000 part-time and short-course students.
Unicorn was chosen to replace the library's URICA system after a detailed assessment of the current market in automated library systems. Penny Aitken, College Librarian, commented: “We chose Unicorn because it was the system which best met our operational requirement. We were impressed by the system's ¯exibility, by Sirsi's reputation for customer support, innovation and training and by the information retrieval and self-service functions of the OPAC.”
d) University of Leicester selects Unicorn
The library at the University of Leicester has chosen the Unicorn Collection Management System to provide an integrated library management system to replace its existing LIBERTAS library system.
The Unicorn system will be installed under the Solaris operating system on a Sun Enterprise 450 and will provide access via a graphical user interface (InfoVIEW for Windows with Z39.50) to OPAC services, cataloguing, authority control, circulation, interlibrary loans, academic reserves, acquisitions (with EDI) and serials control, together with an information gateway to external services over the Internet. Access to the OPAC will also be available through the World Wide Web via WebCat.
The library at the University of Leicester serves a university which undertakes teaching and research across all disciplines. The main library on the central campus includes a European Documentation Centre and extensive official publications holdings, whilst two separate site libraries provide specialist services to the University's School of Education and Medical School. A significant proportion of the user clientele is at postgraduate level, and 5,000 of these are distance learning students, with consequent requirements for electronic access. Of a total holding of just over one million items, details of around 600,000 are available on the online catalogue. The library currently subscribes to 4,700 periodicals, the only aspect of library `housekeeping' which is not automated at present. Automation of periodicals' receipt will follow the migration to Unicorn of those modules already online.
Dr Timothy Hobbs, University Librarian, commented: “We chose Unicorn because we were impressed by the breadth of its functionality and because of Sirsi's track record of innovation in the field. At each stage of the procurement process, we received support and information from Sirsi that has rendered us confident of the company's ability to convert our data, make significant input to the training of our staff and enable us to continue to provide both a speedy and effective service to our users.”
e) International Graduate School of Management of the University of Navarra (IESE) selects Unicorn
The library at the International Graduate School of Management of the University of Navarra (IESE) has chosen the Unicorn Collection Management System to provide an integrated library management system to replace its existing Dobis/Libis library system.
The Unicorn system will be installed under the Solaris operating system on a Sun server and will provide access via a graphical user interface (WorkFlows with Z39.50) to OPAC services, cataloguing, authority control, circulation, SDI and current awareness, academic reserves, acquisitions and serials control, together with an information gateway to external services over the Internet. SmartPORT will be used to capture data from Z39.50 sources worldwide. Access to the OPAC will also be available through the World Wide Web via WebCat.
IESE is the International Graduate School of Management of the University of Navarra which is dedicated to the education of international managers. It was established in 1958 in Barcelona, where the IESE has its main campus. Since 1974 there has also been a campus in Madrid. The library at IESE contains a collection specialising in business and management. It has a total stock of 33,000 volumes and receives more than 700 specialised journals and newspapers. It has significant collections of corporate annual reports, company directories and market research studies. Access is provided to a wide range of electronic information resources, including networked CD-ROMs and online databases.
Carina Huguet, the Librarian, commented: “We selected Unicorn for its ability to incorporate the new information technology tools essential to manage the library of the future. We were impressed by the potential of the information retrieval and by its user-friendly OPAC. We think that by using Unicorn we will be able to improve our collection management and our service to users.”
f) University of the West of England and University of Bath choose Unicorn
The libraries at the University of Bath and the University of the West of England, Bristol have jointly chosen the Unicorn Collection Management System to replace their existing URICA and LIBERTAS systems.
The Unicorn system will be installed under the Solaris operating system on a Sun Enterprise 3000 and will provide access via a graphical user interface (InfoVIEW for Windows with Z39.50) to OPAC services, cataloguing, authority control, circulation, interlibrary loans, academic reserves, materials booking, acquisitions and serials control, together with an information gateway to external services over the Internet. SmartPORT will be used to capture data from Z39.50 sources worldwide. Access to the OPAC will also be available through the World Wide Web via WebCat.
The two institutions have been working towards closer collaboration and the joint purchase of Unicorn is the first indication of this co-operation. Essentially, the two libraries will be sharing the same central server and Union system but will be able to maintain the individual identity of the two library services. The sharing of resources and expertise is seen as a considerable advantage to both libraries. Jointly the new system will be serving around 34,000 users across nine sites, with a total book stock approaching one million.
In a very competitive market, Unicorn was chosen because it best met the immediate needs of both libraries whilst offering exciting opportunities for future service developments.
Unicorn is distributed and supported by Sirsi, specialists in library and information systems. The software technology has been designed and developed over a 15 year period by Sirsi Corporation of Huntsville, Alabama, USA and is installed in more than 800 sites worldwide.
For further information please contact:
The Sales Department, Sirsi, Unicorn House, Station Close, Potters Bar, Herts EN6 3JW, UK. Tel: (01707) 858000. Fax: (01707) 858111. E-mail: nick@sirsi.co.uk URL: http://www.sirsi.org.com