FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ANOTHER BOUQUET OF DUTCH TULIPS : UTRECHT UNIVERSITY CHOSES ALEPH 500

AMSTERDAM, AUGUST 20, 1998. A contract between the University of Utrecht and Ex Libris was signed today during a ceremony at our IFLA booth in Amsterdam. It provides for the licensing of ALEPH 500 and associated services to equip the University library (ULU), with the latest version of our software. The decision of the ULU in favour of ALEPH and Ex Libris came at the conclusion of a very thorough evaluation process, during which various alternatives for a cost-effective modernisation of the library automation and management system were examined by the ULU staff.

Utrecht University, one of the oldest and most prestigious institutions of higher learning in the Netherlands, was founded in 1636 in the heart of Utrecht, a historic city itself in the heart of Holland. Its curricula address a full range of disciplines in science (including information science), law, medicine, pharmacology, literature and languages. The library holdings comprise over 2.5 million monographs, some15,000 subscriptions , as well as many manuscripts and old books from before 1800.

Under the contract signed today, Ex Libris undertakes to convert all bibliographic and administrative data from the existing GEAC system to ALEPH. To start, close to 350 concurrent staff and OPAC users will connect to ALEPH. Online operation of the new system is scheduled for September 1999.

This is the second major university in The Netherlands to select ALEPH 500. The first ALEPH 500 site is at the Technical University of Delft, which went into full production two months ago at their resplendent new library. ALEPH has also been in use for a number of years at Solvay-Duphar in Weesp, near Amsterdam.

Commenting the decision in favour of ALEPH 500, Dr. Mastenbroek, head of the IT-department of ULU, said: 'We are confident the Aleph 500 system will live up to our expectations of its performance for the coming years and will be a sound basis for future developments within out library'.

Azriel S. Morag
Ex Libris Ltd.,
10 Kehilat Venezia,
Tel Aviv, 69400
Israel

Tel: 972-3-649 0430
Fax: 972-3-647 1241

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home page: http://www.aleph.co.il

http://www.exlibris-usa.com

http://www.exl.de/ (In German)

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