VTLS Announces FRBR Software as a Service, Available Now for All Libraries with any OPAC

Blacksburg, Va - VTLS Inc, a leading global company providing Visionary Technology in Library Solutions, announces an industry first: FRBR Software as a Service. Now, all libraries can present FRBR-enhanced records to their end users without having to FRBRize their entire database, while keeping and using their current ILS.

FRBR SaaS builds on a library’s own ILS database and web-based online public catalog by providing a hosted database of matching FRBR records, an online public interface designed to match the source database, and hyperlinks to provide seamless navigation between the two.

The beauty of this installation is that the original source database remains unaltered, and cataloging work flows need not be changed within the institution. Updates to the FRBR SaaS database are managed by the VTLS FRBR SaaS software and can be scheduled to run periodically and automatically.

"In addition to providing the advantages of FRBR in a public catalog today, this service from VTLS puts the library solidly on the path of a Scenario One Implementation of RDA. Scenario One is considered the ultimate goal of this new cataloging paradigm defined in RDA," says John Espley, Chief Librarian at VTLS.

Whereas knowledge and understanding of FRBR is a desirable goal, this implementation from VTLS can be used without in depth knowledge of FRBR. The software implementation provides an instantly recognizable, global picture of the various forms of a given work. All relationships between entities are clearly illustrated with an intuitive tree structure, so no bibliographic instruction is required.

VTLS will be demonstrating the service live at booth #1032 during the Association of College and Research Libraries Annual Conference in Seattle, Washington, March 12-14, 2009.