Austin, Texas - June 4, 2018 - Biblionix today announced that cross-library reserve capability is available for its unique, bottom-up consortium solution; VersaCard virtual consortia. VersaCard virtual consortia functionality is available with the Apollo ILS/LSP and breaks out of the box of normal consortial architecture.

Groundbreaking advantages over today's consortia include:

• Access to personal information is limited. For example: library A has no access to the personal information of patrons of other libraries unless and until the patron borrows from Library A. Even then, options are available regarding the degree of personal information that is shared.
• Libraries can enter and exit the consortium at will.
• There is no charge for participating, for entering, or for exiting.
• Entering and exiting a VersaCard consortium does not change a library's data in any way.
• Every participating library retains its own relationship with Biblionix; it is not subverted to a consortial authority. As with any stand-alone library arrangement
  • Customer support is provided directly to the library not through a consortium point person.
  • Option choices are made solely by the individual library.
  • Billing continues to be dedicated to each library.
• Every participating library retains its autonomy. Its policies and configuration are unaffected (examples are circulation rules, material types, patron types).
• Circulation rules can be set to govern lending to VersaCard patrons. These rules are distinct from lending rules for a library's own patrons.
• Patrons who are blocked at any library are blocked at all libraries
• Any Apollo ILS customer can cancel its service at any time and receive a pro-rated refund.
• Every Apollo ILS customer is able to participate.
• Includes VersaCard inter-library discovery capability

With the addition of cross-library reserves, VersaCard virtual consortia capability now offers a complete array of functionality to meet the needs of any group of libraries. This functionality can result in unexpected benefits.

"VersaCard has been a wonderful PR piece for our library," said Tena Hanson, Director of the Estherville Public Library in Iowa. "While our state has long-established reciprocal borrowing agreements in place, VersaCard helps us more readily show patrons from neighboring communities that they are welcome here. People are delighted to learn that their home library card will work when utilizing our collection, and it's helped us build relationships with our partner libraries, as well."

The Apollo ILS is perfectly suited to provide such unique consortia capability due to its hosted-only, multi-tenant architecture.

Apollo ILS redundant hosting and backup servers are managed solely by Biblionix and are not shared with any other entity. Combined with the multi-tenant, hosted-only approach, this provides enormous architectural advantages that increase privacy and security, reduce down-time, speed customer support response, speed addition of new features, and virtually eliminate threats from ransomware and the like, as well as hardware vulnerabilities like Spectre and Meltdown.

For more information on Biblionix, and its intuitive, imaginative solutions solely for public libraries with less than 300,000 holdings, visit the website at biblionix.com or contact Dick Moeller at dick@biblionix.com.

About Biblionix, LLC

Biblionix is located in Austin, Texas and was founded in 2003. The family-owned company is devoted solely to public libraries. This singular focus lets its Apollo ILS/LSP excel at delighting just one type of customer. In fact, Apollo has won the Product of the Year Award 2016 and 2017, from Modern Library Awards. In addition to the above award, this is borne out by eight consecutive years of top-of-the-charts ratings for Apollo in the annual "Perceptions" survey by Marshall Breeding. Most Biblionix staff members have worked or volunteered at their own public library.