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Weekly News Digest
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March 12, 2012 — In addition to this week's NewsBreaks article and the monthly NewsLink Spotlight, Information Today, Inc. (ITI) offers Weekly News Digests that feature recent product news and company announcements. Watch for additional coverage to appear in the next print issue of Information Today.
CLICK HERE to view more Weekly News Digest items.
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3M Cloud Library Announces Integration With Polaris ILS
3M Library Systems and Polaris Library Systems announced a strategic partnership that will make browsing and checking out ebooks simpler than ever. The 3M Cloud Library eBook Lending Service will now be integrated with the Polaris Integrated Library System (ILS), allowing patrons at participating libraries to discover both physical and digital collections from wherever they are browsing—the library’s own public access catalog (PAC) or from the 3M Cloud Library applications. The new partnership will be showcased at the Public Library Association 2012 Conference, beginning on March 13 in Philadelphia.This first-of-its-kind integration between an ILS and ebook service will bring added convenience to library patrons, who will now be able to browse and check out both physical books and ebooks from one unified interface. The system will also enable unified account profiles, where users will be able to view status updates or receive notifications for all of their materials—both physical and digital. Additionally, with the integrated system, statistics on 3M ebooks will be collected in real time and included in circulation reports—a valuable asset for librarians. Getting started is easy, as the 3M Cloud Library app does not require an Adobe ID, and lets patrons simply select their library and enter their library card number to gain access to the system and start reading. Unlike some competitive systems, 3M Cloud Library doesn’t ask for detailed information from patrons such as name and email address and it doesn’t require an additional password. All that is needed to begin browsing and reading is a valid library card number in good standing. The 3M Cloud Library service is currently in use at 10 beta sites across the country. In April, general release installations will be performed for 30 additional library systems. Patrons of these libraries will gain access to content from a growing list of more than 40 publishers, with content offerings totaling more than 100,000 titles. 3M supports the philosophy that libraries should own their content after purchase. 3M has designed the Cloud Library system to serve as a digital distributor of content, and supports library ebook license ownership after the sale. If a library wishes to terminate their relationship with 3M and move to a new platform provider, 3M will not restrict the library from transferring their ebook licenses to a new platform. 3M has also eliminated the need for a lengthy multi-year service agreement, with a newly released terms and conditions agreement that allows customers to renew their subscription without committing to a long-term contract. Source: 3M Library Systems
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Brandi Scardilli
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