bX Accelerates Research and Learning

The bX scholarly recommender service delivers article-levelrecommendations to scholars around the globe

Jerusalem, Israel – October 22, 2009. Ex Libris^®Group is pleased to announce that over 180 academicinstitutions and consortia in North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacificregion are using the bX™ scholarly recommender service, following its launch in May 2009. Theservice was made immediately available to users at those institutions, enablingthem to begin benefiting from the bX recommendations.

Among the newsubscribers to the bX service are the following institutions and consortia:

·        ArizonaState University,University of Connecticut Health Center, EasternMichigan University,University of Iowa, KansasState University, University of Texas at Austin, and Western MichiganUniversity (United States)

·        University of Calgary (Canada)

·        AalborgUniversity (Denmark)

·        CharlesUniversity in Prague(Czech Republic)

·        FinnishNationalElectronic Library (FinELib) consortium, (Finland)

·        LIBRIS - Swedish University & Research Library Consortium (Sweden)

·        SwissFederal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) (Switzerland)

·        University of Plymouth (United Kingdom)

·        NanyangTechnological University (Singapore)

·        TokyoUniversity of Science (Japan)

·        Collegeof Management Academic Studies (Israel)

Focused on the scholarly domain, bX is the first service to provide article-level recommendations.Based on an analysis of over a hundred million usage logs—and growingrapidly every day— bX reflects the choices of researchers frominstitutions around the world. The bX degree of detail points researchers tospecific scholarly articles.

A doctoralstudent at ArizonaState Universityobserved that the bX service quickly provides relevant recommendations.“I found exactly what I wanted. In 10 minutes, I found more relevantarticles than I've found in the last 10 months using more traditional methodsof research.”

Kasper Lovschall,of Aalborg University Library, commented: “The bX service makes a naturalfit with a user’s exploratory search behavior and supports new findingsand inspiration—this is true serendipity. Viewing the availability ofdirect full text is nice, but things get really fun when you "data-mine"recommendations by following one after another.” 

“We arevery pleased with the quick uptake of the bX recommender service by so many ofour customers,” noted Nettie Lagace,product manager at Ex Libris. “Libraries are pleased that the service offersrecommendations based on the user’s perspective, a very useful complementto the traditional author’s perspective. It is exciting to see theongoing growth of the bX corpus of knowledge as more and more institutionscontribute their usage data.”

About Aalborg University Library

The principal task of the Aalborg University Library is to support research and teaching at theuniversity by providing relevant documentation and access to qualityinformation resources. With over 2,000 employees and 13,000 students at Aalborg University, the library services areprimarily directed toward subject areas that are taught and researched at the university.

For additionalinformation on the Aalborg University Library, see http://aub.aau.dk/ombiblioteket.

About Arizona State University

The vision of Arizona State University (ASU) is a new model forAmerican higher education, a model aimed at academic excellence,entrepreneurial energy, and broad access. The university’s four campuses aspireto positively affect the economic, social, cultural, and environmental healthof the communities that the university serves. ASU has an enrollment of morethan 64,000 students in metropolitan Phoenix,Arizona, the nation's fifthlargest city. ASU champions intellectual and cultural diversity and welcomes students from all 50 states and more than one hundred nations acrossthe globe. ASU offers outstanding resources for study and research, includinglibraries and museums with important collections; studios and performing artsspaces for creative endeavor; and unsurpassed state-of-the-art scientific and technological research facilities. 

For additionalinformation on Arizona State University, see http://www.asu.edu/.

AboutEx Libris

Ex Libris is a leading provider of automation solutions for academic, national, and researchlibraries. Offering the only comprehensive product suite for electronic,digital, and print materials, Ex Libris provides efficient, user-friendlyproducts that serve the needs of libraries today and will facilitate their transition into the future. Ex Libris maintains animpressive customer base consisting of thousands of sites in more than 75 countrieson six continents.

Dedicated to developing creative solutions in close collaboration with customers, Ex Libris enables libraries to maximize productivity and efficiency and,at the same time, greatly enhance the user experience. By empowering users todiscover and obtain the information they need, libraries ensure their positionas the bridge to knowledge.

For additional information on Ex Libris Group, see our Web site, visit our Initiatives and Commentary blogs, and follow our Twitter page.