Ex Libris Users Group

Ex Libris Users Group
Name	Ex Libris Users Group
Formation	1990s
Type	Users association
Headquarters	Jerusalem
Region served	Global

Ex Libris Users Group is a global association of libraries, archives, and cultural heritage institutions that use products from the library technology vendor Ex Libris. The group convenes librarians, systems librarians, metadata specialists, and administrators to share implementation experience, advise on product development, and coordinate training for platforms that include Alma, Primo, Leganto, Rosetta, and Voyager. Member institutions range from national libraries and university libraries to corporate and research organizations, fostering exchanges among stakeholders such as IT directors, catalogers, and consortia representatives.

History

The organization emerged in the 1990s amid widespread automation projects at institutions like the Library of Congress, British Library, National Library of Israel, Harvard University, and Yale University. Early adopters including Cornell University and Princeton University worked alongside consortia such as OCLC and The Research Libraries Group to share Voyager and Aleph implementations. Over time, major academic centers like University of California, Berkeley, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Columbia University, and University of Toronto contributed case studies that influenced roadmap conversations with vendors such as Ex Libris (company). Regional chapters developed in tandem with consortia like Canadian Association of Research Libraries, Australian Academic and Research Libraries, European University Association, and national systems including Gallica and Sudoc. Notable events in the group’s chronology intersect with procurements by institutions such as Stanford University, MIT, University of Michigan, University of Chicago, and national transitions exemplified by the Bibliothèque nationale de France digitization programs and the National Library of Spain modernization projects.

Membership and Governance

Membership includes representatives from large research libraries such as Johns Hopkins University, University of Pennsylvania, University of California, Los Angeles, McGill University, and University of Melbourne, alongside small college libraries and special libraries at organizations like Smithsonian Institution, Getty Research Institute, Brookings Institution, and RAND Corporation. Governance structures mirror professional associations like American Library Association, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, and regional bodies such as Society of College, National and University Libraries with elected steering committees, executive boards, and local coordinators. Voting members often include representatives from consortia including Georgia PINES, Florida Academic Library Services Cooperative, SCONUL, and Jisc, while advisory roles have featured liaison positions akin to those in LIBER and ARL. Prominent library leaders associated with user group activities have ties to institutions such as Pratt Institute, Duke University, Brown University, University of Edinburgh, and King's College London.

Activities and Conferences

Annual and regional conferences attract speakers from institutions like New York Public Library, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, National Diet Library, and Royal Library of Denmark. Program themes often echo initiatives from organizations such as Digital Public Library of America, Europeana, HathiTrust, and DPLA, and bring in technical perspectives from vendors and projects like Apache Software Foundation, Drupal, SWORD, OAI-PMH, and JSON-LD implementations in library contexts. Workshops and training sessions have covered migration case studies drawn from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Indiana University Bloomington, Penn State University, University of Minnesota, and University of British Columbia and have been attended by staff from cultural institutions like V&A, Tate Modern, National Gallery of Art, and Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Working Groups and Special Interest Groups

Working groups and SIGs address domains such as discovery, fulfillment, metadata, resource sharing, and digital preservation, with participation from specialists at National Library of Scotland, Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Swedish National Library, and National Library of Australia. Topic-specific groups coordinate with initiatives like LOCKSS, PREMIS, Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, BIBFRAME, and Linked Open Data projects represented by institutions such as MIT Libraries, Princeton University Library, Yale University Library, and University of Southern California. SIGs often mirror professional committees in organizations like Cataloging and Metadata Institute, Association for Library Collections & Technical Services, and Society of American Archivists and collaborate with consortial technical teams from Orbis Cascade Alliance, CARL, and HathiTrust Research Center.

Collaboration with Ex Libris (company)

The group maintains formal channels for product feedback, beta testing, and roadmap discussions with Ex Libris (company), involving product managers, professional services directors, and engineering teams. Joint sessions have included technical briefings alongside vendor outreach similar to engagements by ProQuest, EBSCO Information Services, Clarivate, Elsevier, and Google Scholar representatives at larger gatherings. Collaborative projects have addressed interoperability with third-party platforms such as Blacklight, VuFind, SFX, WorldCat, and integrations with institutional systems like PeopleSoft, SAP, Workday, and library authentication services including Shibboleth and OpenAthens.

Impact on Library Services and Implementations

User-driven recommendations have influenced features that affect discovery layers, electronic resource management, and fulfillment workflows used by libraries such as University of California system, California Digital Library, British Library, National Library of Finland, and University of Hong Kong. Collective advocacy has shaped migrations from legacy systems like Voyager and Aleph to cloud-based platforms adopted by Cornell, University of Washington, University of Wisconsin–Madison, and national networks such as Library and Archives Canada. Contributions to best practices intersect with preservation standards used by National Archives and Records Administration, Library of Congress Digital Preservation, and research data services at European Organization for Nuclear Research.

Publications and Resources

The group publishes conference proceedings, migration case studies, and technical white papers used by practitioners at institutions including Harvard Business School Library, London School of Economics, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Wellcome Library, Sloan Foundation Library, and Rockefeller Archive Center. Resources include presentations, FAQs, and implementation checklists that parallel materials from IThaka, Educause, JISC Digital Resources, and professional fora like NISO. Training materials and recorded sessions are frequently referenced by staff at National Library of China, Seoul National University, Peking University, University of São Paulo, and University of Cape Town.

Category:Library organizations