Ask Amigos Question - Top ILS Vendors for Academic Libraries
Ask Amigos - the Librarian's Reference Desk, our free service to Amigos members that provides advice, referral, and resources delivered by phone and e-mail, recently received this question.
Who are the top ILS vendors for academic libraries? Soon we will be looking at what is out there for library service platforms and I wanted to make sure that I don't miss any of the academic vendors.
Christine Peterson, E-Book Program Manager and Continuing Education Librarian for Amigos, sent this informative response:
For academic libraries of your size, I would say the top ILS vendors would be (not in any order):
- Alma from Ex Libris - http://www.exlibrisgroup.com/category/AlmaOverview
- Sierra from Innovative Interfaces - http://www.iii.com/products/sierra
- ALEPH 500 from Ex Libris - http://www.exlibris.co.il/category/Aleph
- Millennium from Innovative Interfaces - http://www.iii.com/products/millennium
- Symphony from SirsiDynix - http://www.sirsidynix.com/symphony
Marshall Breeding writes a "perceptions" report each year that discusses what librarians think of their current ILS, The most recent was released in February 2014, http://www.librarytechnology.org/perceptions2013.pl. It goes into more detail, e.g., general satisfaction, overall ILS functionality, effectiveness for print or electronic resources, satisfaction with customer support, and company loyalty. I would place ACC into the "large academic library" category.
Another page that might be interesting to you is Breeding's Guide to Integrated Library System Marketshare and Migrations. Of possibly lesser interest is Breeding’s annual Library Systems Report, but it will provide you a good understanding of the marketplace itself, as well as an overview of each major ILS vendor.