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    June 28th, 2012LISWire aggregatorLISWire

    NoveList Introduces New Features and Options into NoveList Select™, for Customers Incorporating NoveList Content into Their
    Library Catalogs
    ~ Improvements to Functionality and Display, Series Recommendations, Inclusion of Lexile Levels and Options to Purchase Content Café Features Part of Latest Upgrade ~

    IPSWICH, Mass. — June 28, 2012 — NoveList®, a division of EBSCO Publishing, is introducing new features to NoveList Select™, its catalog enrichment resource. These new features improve the user experience, as well as offer new upgrade options, including book jackets, professional book reviews, sample excerpts, tables of contents, and more, from Content Café – a database offered by Baker & Taylor.

    NoveList Select is the catalog enrichment component of NoveList readers’ advisory resources. This component pulls NoveList content into a library’s catalog. NoveList Select makes reading recommendations, series information, book discussion guides, Goodreads ratings and reviews, library newsletters and events available to library patrons from within the catalog record. Patrons can find similar titles and authors based on their searches, discover more of the library’s collection and sign up for library newsletters and upcoming events.

    Vice President of NoveList, Duncan Smith, says NoveList Select has evolved as a way for librarians to enrich their catalogs, and the new features and upgrade options provide librarians with even more ways to serve their patrons. “The library catalog is the main destination for library patrons. Displaying NoveList’s rich content within catalog records allows patrons to learn more about their favorite authors, or to find out about a series or author they didn’t know existed. NoveList Select moves a library catalog from being only a book delivery service to being a book discovery service.”

    Now Content Café, from Baker & Taylor, is available through NoveList Select as well.Content Caféis a comprehensive database with more than 22 million data elements, with new additions made daily. Content Café enriches OPACs with jacket images, reviews, summaries, complete book details, and more.

    Other new features will further enhance the user experience. Improvements to the display and usability of the NoveList content within the catalog records will make it easier for users to access the information. Recommendations for similar series in the library catalog will also be easier to find with a list of series titles added to the existing title and author recommendations that have always been part of NoveList Select in the You might Like These section. Lexile® reading levels are also being added where appropriate. These will primarily be available in juvenile records to help determine whether a title is appropriate for a child’s age and reading level.

    Optional upgrade packages
    It is now possible to integrate several optional upgrade packages into NoveList Select. These optional upgrade packages will provide librarians with the opportunity to enrich their catalogs with comprehensive Content Café data, such as book jackets, full-text reviews, tables of contents, summaries, excerpts, author bios, and more — an opportunity to seamlessly deliver relevant data right where patrons need it — inside the catalog.

    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 350 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.

    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.

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

    Baker & Taylor
    Kimberly Kuo
    704-998-3118
    Kimberly.Kuo@Baker-Taylor.com

  • scissors
    June 28th, 2012LISWire aggregatorLISWire

    ByWater Solutions, an open source community supporter and the U.S.’ forefront provider of Koha (www.koha-community.org) support, announced today that the Library at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park Library in California is now live on their installation of the Koha integrated library system.

    ByWater Solutions completed their migration in late June and will be providing ongoing support and hosting services for them.

    The SF Maritime NHP Library has a collection of over 35,000 book and periodical titles dating from 1536 to the present, 50,000 pieces of ephemera, over 3000 maps and charts covering the Pacific Basin and the West Coast of the United States dating from 1850 to the present, audio, and video materials in multiple formats. The San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park Library customized online catalog can be viewed here: http://catalog.keys.bywatersolutions.com.

    The library staff will be documenting their experiences with their new ILS on their blog (http://fullfathomcollections.blogspot.com).

    Nathan Curulla, Co-Owner of ByWater commented on the new partnership:

    “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with the SF Maritime NHP Library. The staff of the Maritime Library have been a delight to work with and we look forward to a long and productive relationship together. We strongly recommend that anyone in the San Francisco area take the time to visit the Maritime Park and enjoy the history contained within!”

    About The Library at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park:
    The Library at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park is the research portal into the Park’s collections. Reference staff are available by phone, email, fax or in person by appointment to assist you with your research in all of the Park’s collections–with books, photographs, or even the objects cared for by collections staff.

    Within the Library itself are over 35,000 book and periodical titles dating from 1536 to the present, 50,000 pieces of ephemera, over 3000 maps and charts covering the Pacific Basin and the West Coast of the United States dating from 1850 to the present, audio, and video materials in multiple formats. For more information about the J. Porter Shaw Library at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park please visit: http://www.nps.gov/safr/historyculture/library-collections.htm

    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://koha-community.org/

    About ByWater Solutions:
    ByWater Solutions is a full service, high quality support and implementation company dedicated to providing libraries with a lower cost, more advanced level of support for their ILS than a traditional proprietary solution can offer. ByWater Solutions has a proven track record in first rate Koha implementation and support with library systems of all sizes. Our highly ranked, comprehensive support is what sets our company apart from any other vendor in the industry. Partnering with ByWater Solutions to support Koha not only lowers the cost of implementing and maintaining an ILS, but more importantly empowers libraries by giving them the flexibility and freedom they deserve. For more information please visit: http://bywatersolutions.com/