Aleph (library software)

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Aleph (Automated Library Expandable Program Hebrew University of Jerusalem) is an integrated library system distributed by the Israeli Ex Libris Group . For smaller libraries, a leaner version of Aleph 500 is available under the name Alephino .

The Aleph software has five modules . One each is used for cataloging , acquisition , lending and interlibrary loan . The technical administration is carried out in the fifth module.

technology

Aleph is mainly written in the programming languages Cobol and C as well as the language of the C shell .

Aleph uses a multi-tier client-server architecture . Various application services are made available to the clients via APIs . The communication between the server and the clients is based on a stateless transaction model.

Aleph 500 is based on an Oracle database and has an XML interface. The originally only bilingual, Hebrew-English user interface now supports twenty different languages ​​with their specific scripts and script directions through the integration of Unicode .

history

development

After the first experiences with the use of computers for the administration of libraries, endeavors began to be awakened worldwide in the 1960s and 1970s to develop software with which all the different business processes of a library can be managed centrally. A comprehensive software solution was also sought in Israel , but various attempts were unsuccessful. A high point here was the rejection of an offer obtained by a state working group from IBM Israel in June 1981.

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem also found the existing systems to be inadequate; in particular, none of them supported both the Hebrew and Latin typesetting. It was therefore decided to develop in-house. Building on existing concepts, Aleph Yissum, an offshoot of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, developed an integrated library system called Aleph that was available to users and library staff online and in real time. Some basic concepts were adopted from the DOBIS system developed by IBM for the Dortmund University Library . Already back then, Aleph was able to manage the library catalog as OPAC , library acquisitions and borrowing of both volumes and journals. As planned, Aleph supported a variety of briefs.

Aleph's chief developer was Yohanan Shproch, who also held a leadership role in the Aleph Yissum company.

Commissioning in Israel

Aleph went into operation for the first time in November 1981 at a new branch of the library of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Kaplan Library for Social Sciences, with around 100,000 volumes at the time. The students were able to research on three public terminals in the OPAC . The responsible government agency soon decided to promote the idea of ​​a nationwide complete catalog of all university libraries, on the condition that all libraries use Aleph and that the software is developed and maintained centrally by Aleph Yissum. The OPACs, initially managed locally, i.e. at the respective libraries, should one day be combined in a central database. With the help of government grants, all eight Israeli university libraries actually bought the new software between 1983 and 1988.

Worldwide sales

After Aleph Yissum developed the new library software, the university signed a contract with entrepreneur Azriel Morag, who started a company called Ex Libris to market Aleph. In 1996 the two companies Aleph Yissum and Ex Libris merged.

In 1989 Aleph started selling abroad, mainly to Europe. By 1995 the software was sold to around 200 libraries. In 1995 the cost of an Aleph system, including eight terminals for a library, was around $ 25,000.

The fourth successor, the Aleph 500, which has been developed since 1995 and which was first used by the University of Ghent in 1997 , has established itself as one of the leading international library management systems and, according to the manufacturer, was used by around 2,250 institutions worldwide in 2008.

In 2012 the system was used for 14 million rubles at the Russian National Library in Saint Petersburg . At the time, the system had been integrated into the Russian State Library in Moscow for years. Such a commitment was connected with criticism from the library staff, as the system was intended more for small university libraries and not for huge national libraries.

Use in German-speaking associations

The switch of the libraries participating in the Austrian network to Aleph was decided after an EU-wide invitation to tender in November 1997; production began in early 1999. The replacement of Aleph by the product Alma im Verbund, also from Ex Libris, took place in March 2018.

In the German association hbz , the decision to use Aleph was made in 1999. In April 2000, Aleph was put into operation as a network system. Alma was selected as the new system at the end of 2019.

In 2002, after a market survey, the Bavarian Library Association conducted an EU-wide invitation to tender and decided in favor of Aleph before the end of the year. Production started in July 2004. The replacement by a cloud-based successor is in planning.

Aleph 500 was chosen in 1997 for the Informationsverbund Deutschschweiz (IDS) and installed from 1998. As part of the Swiss Library Service Platform (SLSP) project, a switch is also to be made to the successor product Alma .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Martin Rathmayer, Peter Berger: Local library system of the TU Vienna . In: ZIDline , number 2, December 1999.
  2. ^ Ex Libris: System Administrator's Guide. System Overview , Version 22, March 2014, p. 5.
  3. ↑ a b Susan S. Lazinger: ALEPH. Israel's Research Library Network. Background, Evolution, and Implications for Networking in a Small Country . In: Information Technology and Libraries , Volume 10, Number 4, December 1991. pp. 275-291, here: p. 277.
  4. ↑ a b c Helena Flusfeder: Instant access, distant library . In: Times Higher Education, November 10, 1995.
  5. ↑ a b ProQuest to Buy Library Software Firm Ex Libris for an Estimated $ 500m. Haaretz from October 7, 2015.
  6. ^ Marshall Breeding: Investing in The Future: Automation Marketplace 2009 ( Memento from January 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ ExLibris Press Release , October 23, 2008, archive link.
  8. ↑ a b c Как объединить библиотеки и освоить миллиард. Fontanka.ru from September 29, 2017.
  9. ↑ Wolfgang Hamedinger: What comes after BIBOS? . In: Comment , 98/1 (= February 1998)
  10. ↑ Go-Live of the Alma Network Zone on the OBVSG website, accessed on March 29, 2018.
  11. ↑ Stephani Scholz: 10 years of ALEPH in hbz ( Memento from December 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ^ Jürgen Kunz, Carl-Eugen Wilhelm: Ten years of the Aleph 500 in BVB . In: Bibliotheksforum Bayern , 2014, 8, pp. 291–294.
  13. ↑ Review: Developments in the IDS . Information network for German-speaking Switzerland. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
  14. ↑ Marco Balocco: EvaLiS - the auction goes to Ex Libris . In: SLSP Swiss Library Service Platform . January 3, 2018. Retrieved March 29, 2018.