Utah Academic Libraries Award Joint ILS Contract

January 23, 2009 – The University of Utah Libraries, in partnership with the College of Eastern Utah Library, have awarded a contract to Ex Libris for the Aleph integrated library system (ILS) and the Primo search and retrieval system. The University of Utah Libraries include the J. Willard Marriott Library, the Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, and the S. J. Quinney Law Library.

Aleph and Primo will be fully operational by January 2010 and will replace the University of Utah’s legacy system, which has been in use since 1997. The new systems will enable library users to conduct a unified search of collections held by all four participating libraries, including digital collections.

In announcing the contract award, Joyce Ogburn, Director and University Librarian at the Marriott Library, said “We are excited to be offering this advanced discovery system to our users. Primo integrates perfectly with Aleph and can easily be dovetailed onto our existing SFX link resolver, providing us with a unified search interface for our print, electronic, and digital collections. We are confident Primo will lay the foundations for future collaboration with other academic libraries in the region.”