EBL Unveils the New LibCentral

MELBOURNE, Australia, March 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- EBL - Ebook Library, a ProQuest business, has reinvented its LibCentral administrative and acquisitions module, enabling libraries to tailor their ebook experience to fit their own and their users' unique needs. The new LibCentral helps libraries streamline workflows, making discovery, selection, acquisition, and management of ebooks simple. With sophisticated tools, it provides the library granular access and permission settings along with insight into overall collection and Demand-driven Acquisition usage. Created through collaboration with customers, LibCentral is a substantial step in the integration of ProQuest's ebook businesses EBL and ebrary, and will become the base of the combined ebook platform.

"Every library is different and the new LibCentral was built to recognize that. It provides the flexibility libraries need to construct an ebook workflow that works best for their institution and an experience that works best for their users," said Kari Paulson, ProQuest Vice President and General Manager, Ebooks. "With its extraordinary range of options, the new LibCentral tips our hand, showing what's ahead for our new integrated platform. We're applying our deep experience to power libraries with tools to make ebook acquisition through any workflow simple, along with unique data and reporting capabilities that showcase the library value."

EBL's all-new LibCentral transforms ebook acquisition and management with expanded workflow tools that drive efficiency and reduce overlap. For example, LibCentral offers mediated or un-mediated options for Demand-driven Acquisition (DDA) titles with custom loan and download lengths by access model, supporting just-in-time collection development. While EBL's sophisticated DDA profiles do the heavy lifting, LibCentral also offers one-click and shopping cart options for title-by-title purchases, support for selector workflows and integrated fund code and budget support. Further, a matching tool enables libraries to upload print or electronic ISBNs in bulk and then map them to the EBL catalog – another means of helping libraries avoid duplication.

Patron analytics have been expanded in LibCentral and now include an optional short survey that can be customized by librarians, allowing them to gather specific data on their users, all of which is private to the library. The data can be fed into all usage and expenditure reports, providing a new window into collection use.

"We have just been migrated over to the new LibCentral and it looks pretty swish.

We love that we can now view summary reports when we need to without having to export and collate the data. We are excited by the ability to import lists of ISBNs and anticipate this will save us a lot of time," said Michelle Morgan, Librarian IRAM at The University of Western Australia. "In terms of the autonomy afforded the Library staff, LibCentral is a clear winner for administrative interfaces of ebooks."

About ProQuest ebrary and EBL - Ebook Library
Encompassing pioneering companies ebrary and EBL - Ebook Library, ProQuest's ebook businesses enable works from the world's most authoritative publishers to be accessed electronically, online and offline, by libraries worldwide. With more than 24 years of combined experience partnering with libraries, publishers and researchers around the globe, ProQuest's ebrary and EBL offer the industry's most robust content selection and most innovative acquisition models. Only ProQuest provides libraries with so many choices to support their current workflow, optimize their budget and effectively serve end users.  

Generated via ebrary's and EBL's relationships with 600+ publishers, more than 500,000 titles serve the unique research needs of students, scholars, professionals and other information seekers. Through platforms renowned for flexibility, libraries can customize their ebook collections to precisely fit with their users. EBL's and ebrary's Demand-driven and Patron-driven Acquisition models enable libraries to catalog and display thousands of titles, purchasing only if patrons download and use the works. ProQuest is currently integrating EBL and ebrary, creating an unparalleled ebook solution.

About ProQuest (www.proquest.com)

ProQuest connects people with vetted, reliable information. Key to serious research, the company's products are a gateway to the world's knowledge including dissertations, governmental and cultural archives, news, historical collections and ebooks. ProQuest technologies serve users across the critical points in research, helping them discover, access, share, create and manage information.

The company's cloud-based technologies offer flexible solutions for librarians, students and researchers through the ProQuest^®, Bowker^®, Dialog^®, ebrary^® and EBL^® businesses – and notable research tools such as the Summon^® discovery service, the ProQuest Flow™ collaboration platform, the Pivot™ research development tool and the Intota™ library services platform. The company is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with offices around the world.

SOURCE ProQuest