All Sessions

In today's cash-strapped economic environment, libraries are under pressure to reduce costs, improve services, and remain relevant to their institutions and users. These combined pressures are encouraging libraries to increase collaboration and in more effective ways. Alma Collaborative Networks enable consortia—as well as groups of individual institutions—to collaborate in new and streamlined ways, managing their processes more efficiently. We will focus on Collaborative Network functionality across the different types of collaborative networks.
Presented by: Dvir Hoffman, VP, URM Product Management & Marketing, Ex Libris Group

Before you move house, you usually clean out the attics and closets; moving to a library system is no different. A little planning, a little careful preparation, and the migration process can help ease things along. In this session, we will share best practices and lessons learned from migrating to a next generation management system. From cleaning out the bibliographic closets to rethinking staff workflows, migration is an opportunity to chart current processes and plan for the future.
Presented by: John Larson, Manager of Consulting Services, Ex Libris Group; Steven Escar Smith, Dean of Libraries, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Maribeth Manoff, Head, Discovery and Technical Services, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Academic libraries face sizable challenges in convincing faculty to use library resources and services as part of the online learning environment. The tasks of creating, maintaining, and providing access to resource lists involve many institutional systems, such as course management, discovery, library management, and student services. In this session, we will demonstrate an integrative reading-list solution and showcase its workflows spanning across institutional domains and library systems.
Presented by: Carl Grant, Associate Dean, Knowledge Services and CTO, University of Oklahoma Libraries and Ido Peled, VP Solutions and Marketing, Ex Libris Group

At ALA Midwinter, we presented results from user studies that Ex Libris recently conducted to research needs of today’s users. In this update session, we will introduce different types of discovery to support those needs: Search, exploration, learning, and personalization. We will discuss how they can be incorporated in a discovery system to create an entirely new user experience that supports the different goals and tasks of institutions and their patrons.
Presented by: Richard Guajardo, Head of Resource Discovery Systems, University of Houston and
Miri Botzer, Product Manager, Ex Libris Group

Increasingly under pressure to demonstrate their value to their institution, libraries need creative ways to improve efficiency and productivity. Powerful analytic capabilities enable libraries to put numbers on their value and to expose tangible evidence of their leading role in the academic lifecycle. Valuable insight into libraries’ operations can be gained via purchasing trends, comparative analysis, and even predictive analysis. We will explore ways in which Alma Analytics can take libraries into the next generation.
Presented by: Yoel Kortick, Senior Librarian, Ex Libris Group