News from Sirsi

Citation

(2003), "News from Sirsi", Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 37 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/prog.2003.28037dab.004

News from Sirsi

News from Sirsi

(a) Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama picks Sirsi

Sirsi Corporation, has announced that the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) has chosen the Unicorn® Library Management System to replace its existing Dynix system. Gordon Hunt, head of Information Services at the RSAMD, said:

Unicorn was chosen because it provided the best fit with our strategy of providing innovative services to support performance training. The flexibility of Sirsi’s approach will allow us to maintain and build on existing services such as our cast and instrumentation indexes. We were particularly impressed by Sirsi’s willingness to understand our business and the unique demands of information for performers.

RSAMD has also purchased Sirsi’s iLink software. iLink is Sirsi’s e-Library solution tailored for academic and special libraries. Library users “visit” well-organised areas of interest, then search a myriad data sources with a single mouse-click, they can then view value-added e-content integrated directly with catalogue data and enjoy personalised online services.

Unicorn will be installed on the Microsoft Windows® 2000 platform and will provide access via WorkFlows, Sirsi’s graphical user interface to cataloguing, authority control, circulation, acquisitions, and serials control functionality. Sirsi’s SmartPORT will be used to capture bibliographic data from Z39.50 sources world-wide.

The RSAMD’s Whittaker Library supports staff and students of the Academy and members of the music and drama professions in Scotland. The Academy’s emphasis is on performance and this is reflected in the collections, which are particularly strong in music, drama scripts and audio-visual materials. A particular strength is the collection of material relating to Scottish traditional music (the Academy offers the world’s only undergraduate degrees in Scottish music performance). The library has recently expanded into electronic services with the launch of a Web log.

(b) Constitutional Court of South Africa chooses Unicorn

Sirsi Corporation has announced that the new Constitutional Court of South Africa, located in Johannesburg, has chosen the Unicorn® library management system to replace its Inmagic system. The Court is implementing a state-of-the-art virtual library that will extend its rapidly growing resources to the legal community, both locally and internationally.

Constitutional Court deputy director of library services, Sheryl Luthuli, said:

Sirsi’s iBistro and Hyperion were selected to assist us in building a Web gateway connecting the public, legal practitioners, law libraries, and researchers to electronic legal research tools, databases, and the Constitutional Court’s catalogue.

Unicorn will be installed on a Sun Solaris server and will provide access via WorkFlows, Sirsi’s graphical user interface to cataloguing, authority control, circulation, acquisitions, serials control, and interlibrary loan functionality. Sirsi’s SmartPORT will be used to capture bibliographic data from Z39.50 sources world-wide. Access to the online public access catalogue will be available through Sirsi’s iBistro e-Library solution. In phase two of the project, the Constitutional Court will implement Sirsi’s Hyperion digital media archive to provide online access to all judgements made by the court.

The Constitutional Court of South Africa was established in 1994 through the nation’s first democratic constitution. The court consists of 11 judges whose duty is to uphold the law and the constitution, which they must apply impartially and without fear, favour, or prejudice. The judgements of the court are based on the constitution, which is the supreme law of the land. They guarantee the basic rights and freedoms of all persons. They are binding on all organs of government, including parliament, the presidency, the police force, the army, the public service, and all courts. This means that the court has the power to declare an Act of Parliament null and void if it conflicts with the constitution and to control executive action in the same way. When interpreting the constitution, the court is required to consider international human rights law and may consider the law of other democratic countries.

(c) Cardiff Council in Wales selects Sirsi

Sirsi Corporation, has announced that Cardiff public library service in Wales has selected the Unicorn® library management system. Council member Marion Drake, said:

The Council is committed to providing as efficient and up-to-date service for its customers as possible. The advanced and flexible nature of the system, as well as Sirsi’s willingness to tailor the software, means that we have obtained a system that can meet our specific customer needs.

Cardiff Council operates 20 public libraries, two mobile libraries, and the library of Cardiff Prison. It has a registered customer base of approximately 100,000 and a total of more than 600,000 items available for circulation.

(d) Sirsi for Ontario’s community colleges

Sirsi Corporation has announced that the Bibliocentre, a consortium of Ontario (Canada) community colleges, has selected Sirsi’s Unicorn® Library Management System for its complex network of community colleges and resources for its users. Bibliocentre’s executive director, Janice Hayes, said:

Sirsi’s Unicorn system is allowing us to provide ongoing cost-savings for our member colleges. The savings are well over $5 million annually. In addition to the cost savings, with Sirsi, we have a technologically advanced system that supports our entire client base.

The Bibliocentre’s prime mandate is to support college learning and resource centres as a unique cost-saving enterprise: saving colleges money, staffing, computing resources, space, planning services, and the investment needed to research and develop new services in the face of rapid technological change. Cost savings are achieved through consortium purchasing of library materials, as well as centralised cataloguing and processing, and supporting a province-wide integrated library system. Bibliocentre staff negotiate for electronic resources, ensuring best pricing is obtained for e-journals for the entire college system.

Established by the government of Ontario in 1968, Bibliocentre is a central resource serving 24 community colleges directly, three universities (directly and indirectly), and a growing number of customers with special projects outside of the province. Building on its 1997 visioning document, the Bibliocentre has expanded core services and is developing new and exciting services that are geared toward student learning and end-user ease. The consortium also purchased Sirsi’s Hyperion Digital Media Archive to facilitate creation of digital library objects in a learning object repository, and for metadata.

As a technical service and electronic resource consortium, the Bibliocentre handles acquisitions, cataloguing, and processing. The consortium provides more than 29,000 full-text electronic journals and supports a metadata cataloguing unit, digitisation service, award-winning distance retrospective cataloguing service, province-wide OPAC, and circulation and serials systems in 13 colleges. Upcoming services include platform support for virtual reference and a new depository services cataloguing unit. In 2001, Bibliocentre won the Canadian Library Association’s Community and Technical College Libraries Award for its innovative Bibscan, an automated system for distance cataloguing. The Bibliocentre manages 821,802 titles, 1,536,060 items, and serves more than 200,000 users. The Unicorn system includes WorkFlows, a staff interface, that will support 260 simultaneous users. The system will run on Sun V880.

Sirsi recognises that today’s librarians are on a mission to break down barriers that limit the knowledge and resources accessible to library users. A partner with leading libraries around the globe since 1979, Sirsi provides software and services to help promote learning, empowerment, and opportunity for diverse user communities. Sirsi’s portfolio of products and services includes the iBistro and iLink e-Library solutions, the Unicorn Library Management System, the Hyperion Digital Media Archive, Sirsi Rooms™, and a full range of services.

For further information please contact: Sirsi, Unicorn House, Station Close, Potters Bar, Herts. EN6 3JW, UK. Tel: +44(0) 1707 858000; Fax: +44(0) 1707 858111; E-mail: nick@sirsi.co.uk; URL: www.sirsi.co.uk