History
Serials Solutions was conceived in 1999 over beers by brothers Steve, Mike, and Peter McCracken after recognizing that providing relief to the frustrations of library patrons in navigating electronic resources was a profitable domain to pursue.
Serials Solutions was incorporated in March 2000. The business grew from a four-man operation run out of the McCrackens' basement to a multimillion-dollar company in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, Washington.
During the company's first year of operation, co-founder Peter McCracken worked on this emerging company while simultaneously working full-time as a reference librarian at the University of Washington's Odegaard Undergraduate Library. [3] In 2009 Peter McCracken, then Director of Research, left the company to pursue technology projects related to his lifelong interest in maritime history, namely ShipIndex.org, a vessel researching site. [4]
In 2004, Serials Solutions became a division of ProQuest (Information and Learning division). In 2007, ProQuest Information and Learning was acquired by CSA and the Cambridge Information Group and briefly became ProQuest CSA [5] before the company settled on the original ProQuest name as a "new" brand. [6] As part of the ProQuest-CSA acquisition, Serials Solutions merged with Ulrich's and became the primary retailer of the Ulrich's services Ulrichsweb.com and Ulrich's Serials Analysis System.
In May 2005, Jane Burke, former CEO of Endeavor Information Systems became the head of Serials Solutions. Burke had already led successful library technology ventures. [7] Serials Solutions headquarters was located in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. [8]
In 2011 Serials Solutions became part of the ProQuest's new Workflow Solutions division. [9] The "Serials Solutions" name was retired and replaced with the "ProQuest" brand name in 2014. [10]
A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical or digital access materials, and may be a physical location or a virtual space, or both. A library's collection can include printed materials and other physical resources in many formats such as DVD, CD and cassette as well as access to information, music or other content held on bibliographic databases.
Interlibrary loan is a service that enables patrons of one library to borrow physical materials and receive electronic documents that are held by another library. The service expands library patrons' access to resources beyond their local library's holdings, serving as "an integral element of collection development" for libraries.
ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene B. Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for libraries, providing access to dissertations, theses, ebooks, newspapers, periodicals, historical collections, governmental archives, cultural archives, and other aggregated databases. This content was estimated to be around 125 billion digital pages, and is commonly accessed through library Internet gateways. This includes tools for discovery and citation management, and platforms that allow library users to search, manage, use, and share research.
A discovery system is a bibliographic search system based on search engine technology. It is part of the concept of Library 2.0 and is intended to supplement or even replace the existing OPAC catalogs. These systems emerged in the late 2000s in response to user desire for a more convenient search option similar to that of internet search engine. The results from searching a discovery system may include books and other print materials from the library's catalog, electronic resources such as e-journals or videos, and items stored in other libraries.
A research library is a library that contains an in-depth collection of material on one or several subjects. A research library will generally include an in-depth selection of materials on a particular topic or set of topics and contain primary sources as well as secondary sources. Research libraries are established to meet research needs and as such are stocked with authentic materials with quality content. Research libraries are typically attached to academic or research institutions that specialize in that topic and serve members of that institution. Large university libraries are considered research libraries, and often contain many specialized branch research libraries. The libraries provide research materials for students and staff of these organizations to use and can also publish and carry literature produced by these institutions and make them available to others. Research libraries could also be accessible to members of the public who wish to gain in-depth knowledge on that particular topic.
OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was founded in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center, then became the Online Computer Library Center as it expanded. In 2017, the name was formally changed to OCLC, Inc. OCLC and thousands of its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the largest online public access catalog (OPAC) in the world. OCLC is funded mainly by the fees that libraries pay for the many different services it offers. OCLC also maintains the Dewey Decimal Classification system.
Hybrid library is a term used by librarians to describe libraries containing a mix of traditional print library resources and the growing number of electronic resources.
WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions, in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCLC member libraries collectively maintain WorldCat's database, the world's largest bibliographic database. The database includes other information sources in addition to member library collections. OCLC makes WorldCat itself available free to libraries, but the catalog is the foundation for other subscription OCLC services. WorldCat is used by librarians for cataloging and research and by the general public.
Library collection development is the process of systematically building the collection of a particular library to meet the information needs of the library users in a timely and economical manner using information resources locally held as well as resources from other organizations.
An OpenURL is similar to a web address, but instead of referring to a physical website, it refers to an article, book, patent, or other resource within a website.
The California Digital Library (CDL) was founded by the University of California in 1997. Under the leadership of then UC President Richard C. Atkinson, the CDL's original mission was to forge a better system for scholarly information management and improved support for teaching and research. In collaboration with the ten University of California Libraries and other partners, CDL assembled one of the world's largest digital research libraries. CDL facilitates the licensing of online materials and develops shared services used throughout the UC system. Building on the foundations of the Melvyl Catalog, CDL has developed one of the largest online library catalogs in the country and works in partnership with the UC campuses to bring the treasures of California's libraries, museums, and cultural heritage organizations to the world. CDL continues to explore how services such as digital curation, scholarly publishing, archiving and preservation support research throughout the information lifecycle.
R. R. Bowker LLC is an American limited liability company domiciled under Delaware Limited Liability Company Law and based in Chatham, New Jersey. Among other things, Bowker provides bibliographic information on published works to the book trade, including publishers, booksellers, libraries, and individuals; its roots in the industry trace back to 1868. Bowker is the exclusive U.S. agent for issuing International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs). Bowker is the publisher of Books in Print and other compilations of information about books and periodical titles. It provides supply chain services and analytical tools to the book publishing industry. Bowker is headquartered in Chatham, New Jersey, with additional operational offices in England and Australia. It is now owned by Cambridge Information Group.
ERAMS are a way of thinking about library management to help libraries optimize the access, usage, data, and workflows of electronic library collections in the physical and digital library.
Ulrich's Periodicals Directory is the standard library directory and database providing information about popular and academic magazines, scientific journals, newspapers and other serial publications.
James G. Neal is an American librarian, library administrator, and a prominent figure in American and international library associations. In 2022 President Joe Biden appointed him to the National Museum and Library Services Board which advises the agency on general policies with respect to the duties, powers, and authority of the Institute of Museum and Library Services relating to museum, library, and information services, as well as the annual selection of National Medals recipients.
The Alberta Library (TAL) is a not-for-profit library consortium consisting of 50 member libraries and library systems in over 300 locations in the Canadian province of Alberta. Members include public, post-secondary, government and special libraries. It was created in 1997.
The Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS) was a division of the American Library Association (ALA) dedicated to the areas of technical services, collection management and development, and preservation and reformatting. ALCTS membership represented over forty countries and included librarians, library support staff, students of library and information science, and commercial vendors whose professional interests lay in these areas of practice. ALCTS met the needs of its members through educational programming, publications, professional development opportunities and information exchange. ALCTS also promoted and had significant input into the development of standards and best practices, including NISO standards and cataloging standards such as RDA.
ebrary was an online digital library which held over 100,000 scholarly e-books in 2014. It was available in many academic libraries and provided a set of online database collections that combined scholarly books from over 435 academic, trade, and professional publishers. It also included sheet music and government documents. Additionally, ebrary offered a service called "DASH!" for customers to distribute their own PDF content online.
Ex Libris Group is an Israeli software company that develops integrated library systems and other library software. The company is headquartered in Jerusalem, and has ten other offices around the world. In October 2015, Ex Libris was acquired by ProQuest which in turn was acquired by Clarivate in December 2021.
The Journal of Social Ontology is a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary academic journal with a focus on social ontology and collective intentionality. It is supported by International Social Ontology Society. The journal's editor-in-chief is Hans Bernhard Schmid.
