~ Agreement with National Library of the Czech Republic Brings Metadata from the Manuscriptorium Project to EBSCO Discovery Service™ Users ~

IPSWICH, Mass. —May 26, 2011 — An agreement between the National Library of the Czech Republic and EBSCO Publishing is bringing metadata from the Manuscriptorium project to EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS). The goal of the Manuscriptorium project is to create virtual research access to all digital documents related to historical book resources up to the year 1800. Content includes: manuscripts, incunabula, early print books, maps, deeds, charters and more. Metadata from the Manuscriptorium—the European Digital Library of Written Cultural Heritage—will be available to all EDS users, further expanding the information available via EBSCO Discovery Service.

The Manuscriptorium project—including more than five million digital images—has created a single digital library database from the resources previously held in libraries throughout the European Union and beyond. While the primary focus of the project is on books, documents of an archival nature are also included. The Manuscriptorium provides researchers, students and teachers with information about the physical documents that are contained in the digital library via its catalogue as well as access to digital copies of the documents themselves.

The General Director of the National Library of the Czech Republic, Tomas Bohm says the agreement with EBSCO expands the goal of the Manuscriptorium project. “The National Library of the Czech Republic set out to pull together the millions of historic book resources that had been scattered throughout libraries around the world. In adding the metadata to EBSCO Discovery Service, we are further able to expand access to this valuable information and bring this important content to more and more users.”

The Manuscriptorium joins a long list of key information sources available to EBSCO Discovery Service users including: British Library, Baker & Taylor, NewsBank, Readex, LexisNexis, Alexander Street Press, Oxford University Press, American Psychological Association, ABC-CLIO, ingentaconnect, Government Printing Office, ECONIS, Mergent Inc., arXiv, Credo Reference, IGI Global, World Book and Accessible Archives. In addition, Web of Science and H.W. Wilson provide access for mutual customers. The EDS Base Index represents content from approximately 20,000 providers (and growing) in addition to metadata from another 70,000 book publishers, representing far more content providers and publishers than any other discovery service.

EBSCO Discovery Service creates a unified, customized index of an institution’s information resources, and an easy, yet powerful means of accessing all of that content from a single search box—searching made even more powerful because of the quality of metadata and depth and breadth of coverage.

EBSCO Discovery Service is quickly becoming the discovery selection for many libraries (www.ebscohost.com/discovery/eds-news), and an obvious partner for content providers. Because the service builds on the foundation provided by the EBSCOhost® platform, libraries gain a full user experience for discovering their collections/OPAC—which is not typical in the discovery space. Further still, in the many universities and other libraries where EBSCOhost is the most-used platform for premium research, users are not asked to change their pathways or habits for searching. There’s simply more to discover on the familiar EBSCOhost platform, and the same can be said for library administrators who can leverage their previous work with EBSCOadmin®.

About EBSCO Publishing
EBSCO Publishing is the producer of EBSCOhost®, the world’s premier for-fee online research service, including full-text databases, subject indexes, point-of-care medical reference, historical digital archives, and e-books. The company provides more than 300 databases and nearly 300,000 e-books. Through a library of tens of thousands of full-text journals and magazines from renowned publishers, EBSCO serves the content needs of all researchers (Academic, Medical, K-12, Public Library, Corporate, Government, etc.). EBSCO is also the provider of EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS), which provides each institution with a fast, single search box for its entire collection, offering deeper indexing and more full-text searching of journals and magazines than any other discovery service (www.ebscohost.com/discovery).For more information, visit the EBSCO Publishing Web site at: www.ebscohost.com, or contact: information@ebscohost.com. EBSCO Publishing is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., one of the largest privately held companies in the United States.

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For more information, please contact:
Kathleen McEvoy
Public Relations Manager
(800) 653-2726 ext. 2594
kmcevoy@ebscohost.com

Dallas, TX — The Amigos Library Services Board of Directors is pleased to announce that four members have been elected to serve three-year terms on the board. The directors, whose terms run through 2014, are:

• Ms. Shirley Dickerson, Library Director, R.W. Steen Library, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX
• Mr. Bill Hair, Associate Dean and Director of University Libraries, Baylor University, Waco, TX
• Ms. Polly McCord, Librarian, New Mexico Office of the State Engineer Library, Santa Fe, NM
• Mr. Joel Valdez, University of Arizona Foundation, Tucson, AZ, Independent Director

Ms. Dickerson and Mr. Hair were re-elected to their second three-year terms. The newly elected directors will join those currently serving three-year terms. They are:

• Mr. Oliver Delaney, Oklahoma City, OK, Independent Director
• Ms. Jennifer Goodson, Library Director, Fort Smith Public Library, Ft. Smith, AR
• Mr. Patrick Heath, Boerne, TX, Independent Director
• Ms. Charlie Kalogeros-Chattan, Library Manager, Los Alamos County Library System/Mesa Public Library, Los Alamos, NM
• Mr. Art Lichtenstein, Library Director, Torreyson Library, University of Central Arkansas, Conway, AR
• Mr. Bill Parton, Library Director, Pendergraft Library, Arkansas Tech University, Russellville, AR
• Dr. Anne Prestamo, Claud D. Kniffin Professor of Library Service and Education, Associate Dean for Collection And Technology Services, Oklahoma State University Libraries, Stillwater, OK
• Ms. Carla Stoffle, Dean, University Libraries and Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

Board officers for 2011-12 are:
• Dr. Anne Prestamo, Chair
• Ms. Jennifer Goodson, Vice Chair
• Ms. Charlie Kalogeros-Chattan, Secretary
• Mr. Patrick Heath, Treasurer

About Amigos Library Services
For more than 35 years, Amigos Library Services has helped its members obtain affordable services and share library resources and knowledge. With over 600 members, Amigos is one of the largest consortia of libraries and cultural heritage institutions in the United States. Through membership in Amigos, libraries collectively gain access to the latest innovations and services in the library community; pursue opportunities for continuing professional education; leverage their buying power; and preserve the region’s rich cultural heritage. This collaboration strengthens each member’s ability to serve and lead its community in the creative and effective use of information resources.

Media Contact:
Terri Maguire Mertz
Amigos Library Services
972-340-2855
mertz@amigos.org
www.amigos.org

May 24, 2011 — The Amigos Library Services Board of Directors is pleased to announce the winners of its 2011 Amigos Fellowship and Opportunity Award. They are:

Virginia Kay Williams and Nancy Deyoe, Ablah Library, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS — Project Title: Diversity in Library Youth Collections

Adrianna Lancaster, East Central University, Ada, OK — Project Title: Integrating Interaction into Instruction

Stefanie Wittenbach, Texas A&M University, San Antonio, TX — Project Title: Core Workforce Competencies for the 21st Century: Building a Comprehensive Academic Skills Program for TAMU-SA Graduates

Each year, the Amigos Fellowship and Opportunity Award Program awards up to $7,500 to library and information professionals in Amigos member libraries to fund individuals' development projects.

Since the program’s founding in 1990, it has awarded over $87,000 to foster research and development of resource sharing capabilities among Amigos member libraries. Awards are based on the significance of a proposed project’s contribution to library resource sharing. Visit the Amigos Fellowship Program website for previous winners and their project reports.

About Amigos Library Services
For more than 35 years, Amigos Library Services has helped its members obtain affordable services and share library resources and knowledge. With over 600 members, Amigos is one of the largest consortia of libraries and cultural heritage institutions in the United States. Through membership in Amigos, libraries collectively gain access to the latest innovations and services in the library community; pursue opportunities for continuing professional education; leverage their buying power; and preserve the region’s rich cultural heritage. This collaboration strengthens each member’s ability to serve and lead its community in the creative and effective use of information resources.

Media Contact:
Terri Maguire Mertz
Amigos Library Services
972-340-2855
mertz@amigos.org
www.amigos.org

5/24/2011
CONTACT:
Nathan Curulla
(888) 900-8944
sales@bywatersolutions.com

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Partners with ByWater Solutions for Koha Support and Installation Services

ByWater Solutions, an open source community supporter and official Koha support company, announced today that the Texas Tech University Health Science Center's Preston Smith Library of the Health Sciences has partnered with them for the installation and support of the Koha integrated library system.

Paul Landers, IT Section Manager at the Preston Smith Library commented on their choice of Koha and ByWater Solutions:

"We are thrilled to be working with ByWater Solutions on our ILS migration. The personnel at ByWater have been not only engaging and proactive, but also positive and friendly. It was especially reassuring that some staff even have a Health Sciences library background. ByWater has taken the time to understand our unique needs and concerns, and has worked with us in a very flexible, detailed and professional manner. We are excited to see the fruition of our partnership and eager to reap the benefits of Koha this summer."

Brendan Gallagher, CEO of ByWater Stated: "We are very excited to get the Preston Smith Library up and running on Koha. The enthusiasm of our new partner makes us even more thrilled to bring the benefits of open source to their library. We look forward to a long and productive relationship with Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center!"

The Preston Smith Library of the Health Sciences consists of over 120,000 bibliographic titles and is slated to go-live this Summer.

About the Preston Smith Library of the Health Sciences:
The Preston Smith Library of the Health Sciences serves the TTUHSC Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Allied Health and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. As the major resource of clinical information in West Texas, the library also serves health professionals throughout the area. The facility contains twenty-eight group study rooms, a sixty-four-station Internet-connected computer lab in the Learning Resource Center, a Rare Books Room with adjacent Conference Room, three Photocopy Rooms, a Microfilm Room, and a Student Mentoring Program Room. The library has public seating for over three hundred users, as well as eighteen tables and twenty-eight open carrels. For more information please visit: http://www.ttuhsc.edu/libraries

About Koha:
Koha is the first open-source Integrated Library System (ILS). In use worldwide, its development is steered by a growing community of libraries collaborating to achieve their technology goals. Koha's impressive feature set continues to evolve and expand to meet the needs of its user base. It includes modules for circulation, cataloging, acquisitions, serials, reserves, patron management, branch relationships, and more.

Koha’s OPAC, circulation, management and self-checkout interfaces are all based on standards-compliant World Wide Web technologies--XHTML, CSS and Javascript--making Koha a truly platform-independent solution. Koha is distributed under the open-source General Public License (GPL). For more information about Koha, please visit: http://www.koha-community.org

About ByWater Solutions:
With over 10 years of experience, ByWater Solutions offers customized hosting, data migration, configuration, installation, training, support options and development of enterprise class open-source library systems. Offering a 24/7 technical helpline, ByWater Solutions’ clients have the support system they need to make their software work for them. ByWater Solutions pledges to share 100% of all developed code to the Koha community for the strengthening and advancement of the Koha ILS. For more information about ByWater Solutions, please visit: http://www.bywatersolutions.com

~ Employee Training Centers Designed to Assist Companies with Compliance and Training Needs ~

IPSWICH, Mass. — May 23, 2011 — EBSCO Publishing (EBSCO) has expanded its corporate learning offerings to include a ready to use, web-based training center. EBSCO and Business & Legal Resources® (BLR) have signed an agreement enabling corporations and government agencies to subscribe to BLR’s Employee Training Center through EBSCO.

Many organizations are responsible for training programs mandated by human resources requirements, safety codes and state & federal regulations. However, instituting these rules or having access to subject-matter experts on topics for which they need to train is difficult. The Employee Training Center can assist organizations with their compliance and training needs by providing a web-based training platform and a source of professionally developed training courses for their workforce.

BLR’s Employee Training Center offers continuously updated, customizable courses in nine specific areas: Customer Service, Environmental Compliance, Human Resources, Lab Safety, Leadership for Employees, Leadership for Managers & Supervisors, Wellness, Workplace Safety and California Sexual Harassment which satisfies the California regulation, AB 1825. Each course is professionally developed by lawyers, industry experts, and professional trainers and supplemented with complete speaker’s notes, quizzes and an answer key.

The Employee Training Center is an indispensible tool for reducing costs and saving time within an organization. Training professionals aren’t tasked with creating the content and scheduling the trainings while employees can complete the training when it makes sense for them with less impact on overall productivity.

Senior Director of Market Development for EBSCO Publishing Joe Tragert says this agreement is designed to augment EBSCO’s database offerings. “BLR’s Employee Training Center is a valuable addition to our growing line of corporate learning products. The expert content in the Employee Training Center combined with EBSCO’s learning products support the training objectives within organizations and the professional development of trainers themselves.”

Corporate learning resources from EBSCO Publishing include: comprehensive summaries for the best business books from Business Book Summaries™ plus magazine and journal content from EBSCO’s Learning Centers™. EBSCO also provides evidence-based resources for learning professionals such as Corporate Learning Watch™ and Competency Center™.

More information about EBSCO’s suite of Corporate Learning resources is available at: http://www.ebscohost.com/learning-resources.

About EBSCO Publishing
EBSCO Publishing is the world’s premier database aggregator serving the content needs of corporations, associations and organizations of all types. EBSCO offers a suite of more than 300 full-text and secondary research databases providing content from tens of thousands of full-text journals, magazines, books, monographs, reports and various other publication types from renowned publishers. Databases provide information for areas ranging from research & development and corporate learning to departmental and industry-specific topics. EBSCO’s product lines include proprietary databases such as Business Source® Corporate, Business Book Summaries™, Learning Centers™, Business Basics™, Academic Search® R&D, Nonprofit Organization Reference Center™, and Health Library™ as well as dozens of leading licensed databases. Databases are powered by EBSCOhost®, the most-used for-fee electronic resource in libraries around the world, and may be integrated into corporate intranets, portals and learning management systems. For more information, visit the EBSCO Publishing Web site at: www.ebscohost.com, or contact: information@ebscohost.com.

EBSCO Publishing is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., one of the largest privately held companies in the United States.
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For more information, please contact:
Kathleen McEvoy
Public Relations Manager
(800) 653-2726 ext. 2594
kmcevoy@ebscohost.com