New public libraries go live with Horizon

Citation

(2004), "New public libraries go live with Horizon", The Electronic Library, Vol. 22 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/el.2004.26322fab.015

New public libraries go live with Horizon

Dynix has announced that three libraries in Australia have replaced their GEAC automation systems with the Horizon Information Management System.

Moonee Valley City Council (Victoria, Australia) and Marrickville Municipal Library (New South Wales, Australia) selected Horizon because it gives users more personalization options and an increased ability to directly manage their library accounts. Hume Global Learning Village Library Service (Broadmeadows, Victoria) installed the Horizon Information Management System to take advantage of the rich multilingual functionality of Horizon Information Portal.

A GEAC customer for 25 years, Moonee Valley City Council sought a new library management system that would provide its patrons and staff with a familiar Windows-based environment. After fully evaluating a number of vendors, the Council chose Horizon for its sophisticated, configurable and user-friendly interface.

“We wanted to provide our customers with a simpler, more intuitive way to access the library’s resources and services. Horizon Information Portal gives our customers a greater ability to manage their own loans and reservations, allowing them to check out and renew materials or pay overdue fines without the direct assistance of a librarian”, said Megan Lee, Systems Coordinator for Moonee Valley City Council. “The staff is also pleased with the new Windows format because it simplifies training and improves their confidence in the system”.

Marrickville Municipal Library, which serves a population of 75,000 public patrons, decided that it needed to replace the GEAC Advance system it had used for nine years. After considering a number of vendors, the library installed Horizon because of the product’s ability to handle multiple languages, including non-Roman.

“We needed a library management system that could give us a better view of our patrons and allow them more access and power in managing their accounts”, said Shane Carty, IT Librarian at Marrickville. “Horizon Information Portal satisfies our requirements for patron access, and it also allows us to roll out new services, such as email-based overdue notices and advanced user profiling”.

Standardization also played a significant role in Marrickville’s decision. “We really appreciate Horizon’s adherence to global standards such as Unicode”, said Carty. “It makes our job much easier in terms of connecting to information systems worldwide via the Web”.

Hume Global Learning Village Library Service, which also moved to Horizon from a GEAC system, caters to a population from many different cultural backgrounds. “One of the main reasons we selected Horizon was the fact that the Horizon Information Portal is available in languages other than English. With 118 languages represented in Hume, this will vastly improve our ability to provide services to our residents”, said Dale Cousens, Systems and Resource Coordinator for the Hume Global Learning Village Library Service. The library circulates more than 900,000 items annually.

“We are pleased with the opportunity to serve Moonee Valley City Council, Marrickville Municipal Library, and Hume Global Learning Village Library Service by providing them with Horizon, the leading library management system available today”, said Petros Demetriou, Dynix Vice President and General Manager for Asia Pacific. “Dynix has a strong track record in timely and successful migrations of ex-GEAC customers and continues to be the system of choice for similar profile libraries. Horizon’s extensive multilingual capabilities are a significant factor in the strength of the system as libraries service increasingly multicultural communities”.