Libraries in Europe and Africa Acquire the VTLS Archival Management System

In June 2008, VTLS Inc. (Visionary Technology in Library Solutions) announced the development and deployment of the Archives Management System (AMS). This system was developed in partnership with the National Library of Wales. The system follows the ISAD (International Standard Archive Description) standard and has advanced hierarchical linking capabilities, which are essential to the success of archive collections.

Now VTLS is happy to announce that the Slovak National Library (in Bratislava) and Makerere University (in Uganda) have acquired the AMS.

The Slovak National Library is an existing Virtua ILS customer. They are creating a national catalog that will integrate all their existing catalogs, including their archives of literature and art (about 1.5 million archival records), into their Virtua database. “This software better suits the needs of archives cataloguers than the library-oriented, basic Virtua system,” said Jarmila Majerova, deputy director for library processes at the Slovak National Library. The full implementation is scheduled for completion in 2009, following the completion of staff training on the system.

Makerere University is also a current Virtua ILS customer. With the purchase of the VTLS Archive Management System they will create an integrated environment for both the traditional collection and the archival collection.

The Virtua Archives Management System gives libraries the ability to catalog not only individual items such as manuscripts, books, periodicals, pictures, and maps, but also whole archives in a way that makes clear the relationship between the items. The Archives Management System lets libraries do this via a hierarchical “tree” structure of linked MARC bibliographic records. The tree graphically displays the relationships among all descriptive records in an archive. This structure allows archival materials to be presented both in terms of their content, and their context.

The Archive Management System is the first system of its kind. As a fully integrated system with the Virtua ILS, the AMS allows archival material to be found through the same interface as other library materials or records. As a stand-alone system, the AMS is a valuable tool for managing archival material.

The Archives Management System was built by VTLS using the knowledge acquired in creating the first commercially available implementation of FRBR. Like FRBR, the Archives Management System is a hierarchically linked record system. But unlike FRBR, this system allows the record structure to skip levels and handle gaps in the hierarchy. “We are grateful to our partners for helping us build a system that meets a demonstrated need,” said Vinod Chachra, President and CEO of VTLS Inc.