Library Technology Guides

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Smart Libraries Newsletter

Volume 27 Number 08 (August 2007)


Author / Title
Pages
Breeding, Marshall, OCLC Completes Its Acquisition of PICA
OCLC took another step in its growth as a global organization by gaining complete ownership of OCLC PICA, the integrated library system based in the Netherlands and used by libraries and library consortia in Europe and elsewhere. While this move represents a solidification of OCLC’s European holdings, it does not reflect a major change in strategy. OCLC already owned the majority of the shares of OCLC PICA through combined investments of $8.7 million made in December 1999 and September 2000. OCLC has not yet revealed the amount paid for the remaining 40 percent of the shares.
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Breeding, Marshall, New CEO for SirsiDynix
On June 19, 2007, just in time for the ALA Annual Conference in D.C., SirsiDynix appointed Gary Rautenstrauch as its new CEO. The appointment of Rautenstrauch comes about four months following the departure of Patrick Sommers on February 16, 2007. Rautenstrauch takes responsibility for worldwide operations of SirsiDynix, currently the largest company in the library automation industry.
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Breeding, Marshall, R. R. Bowker acquires Medialab Solutions
Medialab Solutions, the Amsterdam-based company that develops and supports AquaBrowser, has been acquired by R. R. Bowker, a company that produces bibliographic content products. Medialab Solutions developed AquaBrowser, which has proven to be popular, as an alternative interface for library catalogs in public libraries. AquaBrowser finds use in about 80 percent of public libraries in The Netherlands and about 120 libraries in North America. About 2,000 libraries worldwide have implemented AquaBrowser.
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