LEHI, UTAH (January 3, 2013) – Working together to make e-resources easily accessible to library patrons, SirsiDynix and Baker & Taylor today announced a partnership with the SirsiDynix® eResource Central product to deliver seamless electronic resource and e-book access, offering both borrowing and purchase options to end users. The partnership with Baker & Taylor is a major step in the project, integrating the Axis 360 platform with the eResource Central platform.
“Our partnership with Baker & Taylor represents an integral part of the eResource Central solution,” said SirsiDynix CTO Talin Bingham. “Baker & Taylor has been a believer in the eResource Central vision from the beginning, and as both our organizations are strong supporters of the ReadersFirst initiative, it is natural that we would work together to provide easy access to their e-resource collections via the SirsiDynix® eResource Central platform and the full suite of SirsiDynix discovery products.”
eResource Central simplifies the discovery and delivery of e-content to users however, wherever or whenever they need it. eResource Central will be available to 100% of both SirsiDynix Symphony® and Horizon ILS customers via the BLUE Cloud clients which include the SirsiDynix Enterprise® and Portfolio™ discovery solutions, as well as through SirsiDynix® Social Library™ on Facebook and the BookMyne™ mobile app. eRC will also be available as part of the new client applications to be shown at this year’s annual COSUGI User Conference. eResource Central bridges the gap between content providers and users, enabling libraries to manage and deliver e-resources seamlessly and cost-effectively, while also handling traditional collections with proven solutions used by more than 3,600 libraries worldwide.
Building on the existing Project Gutenberg and Open Library e-book collections already integrated and available through eResource Central, this new partnership enables libraries to integrate their Baker & Taylor Axis 360 content into eResource Central and create an even richer user experience.
“Baker & Taylor’s vision for Axis 360 was always to bring e-content discovery and access into a library’s catalog in a seamless experience for patrons,” said George Coe, President of Baker & Taylor’s Library & Education division. “With eResource Central, Baker & Taylor customers can make their library catalog the single place where their patrons find and enjoy everything the library has to offer its community, whether in print or digital format. We are thrilled to be partnering with SirsiDynix to improve the digital experience for their customers and look forward to making seamless integration with Axis 360 available to all libraries.”
Axis 360 is Baker & Taylor’s digital media circulation and management platform, used by many of the country’s top public, K-12 school and academic libraries. It is a fully-accessible platform, which now has nearly 300,000 electronic titles available for library circulation. With Axis 360, library patrons can use virtually any of the top multi-function phones, tablets and e-reader devices to find, check out and read digital titles. Patrons can use whatever e-book format works best for them – EPUB, PDF formats, or Blio, the fully-accessible, free e-reader app that offers rich features and content, and is available on Apple iOS, Android and Windows devices.
For library users, eResource Central provides simple access to library resources, including e-books and e-journals, via a single user interface. This simplifies requests, downloads and matching of compatible e-books and e-reader formats. eResource Central will include full support for the Blio® e-reader, as well as other e-readers and the associated digital permissions. For libraries and library staff, eResource Central enables cost savings and simplifies the process of delivering content of disparate sources and formats to users by managing licensing and access rights, maintaining MARC records and metadata for library e-resources, integrating e-resource usage into circulation reporting, and managing electronic content acquisition and creation. To further support SirsiDynix library customers, eResource Central also provides end-user tools to simplify the e-resource access and download process.
eResource Central also offers economies of scale for customers, taking advantage of SirsiDynix’s BLUE Cloud environment and expertise to reduce the need to load and index e-resource collections locally while maintaining the library’s ability to present staff and end users with a single discovery interface for all library resources. With more than 750 customers and 1,000 product implementations in the SirsiDynix BLUE Cloud, eResource Central builds on time-tested and proven technology.
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About SirsiDynix
SirsiDynix connects people with knowledge at more than 23,000 libraries around the world. Through library management technology and search and discovery tools, libraries using SirsiDynix technology bring relevant resources and the power of knowledge to their users and communities. SirsiDynix technology is architected to be open, scalable and robust, offering a complete solution out-of-the-box, and unparalleled flexibility through APIs and web services. Complemented by the most experienced training, consulting and support staff in the industry, SirsiDynix helps libraries create tomorrow’s libraries, today. www.sirsidynix.com
About Baker & Taylor
Baker & Taylor, Inc. (www.baker-taylor.com) is the world’s largest distributor of books, digital content and entertainment products. The company offers cutting-edge digital media services and innovative technology platforms to thousands of publishers, libraries and retailers worldwide. Baker & Taylor also offers industry-leading customized library services and retail merchandising solutions. Charlotte, N.C.-based Baker & Taylor is majority owned by Castle Harlan Partners IV, L.P., an institutional private equity fund managed by Castle Harlan, Inc., a leading private equity investment firm.
