Sabinet, the online information solution provider to libraries in the academic, business and government sectors in South Africa, and Ex Libris, the library and information technology company, announced today that SACat - a cooperative database of all library stock in southern Africa - can be cross-searched by MetaLib.
The new cross-searching configuration is part of Ex Libris' commitment to include more African resources in the MetaLib KnowledgeBase, and is available immediately to all MetaLib customers.
As with all new cross-searching configurations, the new resource will be made available at no extra cost to libraries as part of Ex Libris' KnowledgeBase service.
The news comes soon after Ex Libris' announcement of a free SFX service for the University of Lesotho (see http://www.exlibrisgroup.com/sfx1000.htm).
Karen Groves, MetaLib Product Manager at Ex Libris, said: "We are particularly pleased to be able to offer this new service to libraries and their end-users, and to South African users in particular. This resource illustrates Ex Libris' commitment to its African customers and we aim to introduce configurations for many more such local services."
Marco McKenzie, Product Development Manager, Sabinet Online said: "Sabinet aims to provide a comprehensive information service for South African customers. SACat is a key part of that service - as it covers books, journals, conference proceedings, standards and technical reports from South African Higher Education institutions. We recognise that more and more libraries are using federated search solutions, and we aim to increase usage of SACat via such systems."
Share
With a sound history of 22 years in the information industry, Sabinet is firmly established as a leader in facilitating electronic access to information. Sabinet is one of a limited number of companies in this industry with a long track record of experience and effectiveness in addressing the diverse needs of a large and continually growing client base, spanning the corporate, academic and government markets.
The company is renowned for understanding, and catering for, the needs of information users across a broad spectrum of markets, and strives to bring a total solution to its clients' online information needs by using specific elements from its portfolio of products and drawing on both its technical and people skills.
As a member of the Proudly South African campaign, Sabinet fully supports the campaign's objectives.
For additional information about Sabinet, please see http://www.sabinet.co.za.
Ex Libris and MetaLib
Ex Libris is a leading worldwide developer and provider of high-performance applications for libraries, information centres and researchers, with installations in 62 countries. MetaLib, the federated search tool for library collections, and SFX, the context-sensitive linking solution for heterogeneous electronic resources in the scholarly information environment, have collectively been purchased by over 1 000 institutions in 40 countries.
For additional information on Ex Libris, please see http://www.exlibrisgroup.com/.
For additional information on MetaLib, please see http://www.exlibrisgroup.com/metalib.htm.
Editorial contacts