Six University Libraries in Nigeria Sign VIRTUA

Blacksburg, VAVTLS Inc. is please to announce that six academic libraries in Nigeria have signed Virtua as their integrated library system of choice. The following libraries are:

University of Jos, in Jos Obafemi Awolowo University, in Ile-Ife University of Ibadan, in Ibadan Ahmadu Bello University, in Zaria University of Port Harcourt, in Port Harcourt Bayero University, in Kano

All six universities are part of 17 federal universities found in Nigeria and are all considered highly notable. Ahmadu Bello University is the largest in the country with 33,000 students and University of Ibadan is the oldest Nigerian university. The latter was the first large Nigerian university to automate their library and chose VIRTUA to expand and enhance the quality of their automation.

The libraries signed a five-year contract this year. They've already received a first round of introductory training. In order to ease the installation and serve the universities needs, VTLS has hired a local person, based at Ibadan University, to provide first-line support. A go-live date is schedule for later this year.

"We are delighted to partner with VTLS on this project. Not only do they bring to the table an exceptional product, they also have extensive experience dealing with local challenges such as unreliable power and low bandwidth," says Susan Schnuer, Associate Director of the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs."VTLS is committed to putting in the time and effort to help these university libraries implement an automation system."

"We are honored that VIRTUA was chosen by these prestigious universities in Nigeria," says Dr. Vinod Chachra, CEO of VTLS Inc. "This partnership further strengthens our international ties among libraries and librarians, and will continue to help bring visionary technology to Nigeria in order to access important information from the universities' library collections."