Charleston In Between: Vendor Info Session
May 12, 2022
3:10 – 3:20 PM
Registration Required to Attend
Building features users want: A community-based enhancement approach for Ex Libris and its customers
Description: The library industry continues to evolve to support new service and delivery models. Gain further insight in how the Ex Libris user communities (ELUNA and IGeLU) closely and productively work with Ex Libris, part of Clarivate, to meet the growing needs of the industry, libraries, library staff, and users. Learn about their continuing collaborative relationship, current projects and initiatives (such as Controlled Digital Lending, Data Excellence, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusiveness in Search), and what lies ahead.
Presenters:
- Hong Ma, Head of Library Systems, Interim Associate Dean for User Services (Loyola University Chicago)
Hong Ma is the Head of Library Systems at Loyola University Chicago and assumed a new role as the Interim Associate Dean for User Service in January 2021 to oversee the work of the library’s Access Services, the Information Commons, and the Assessment Librarian. She played essential roles in LITA (Library Information Technology Association) and serves on the Core Board as Director-at-Large. She services as Steering Committee member of ELUNA (Ex Libris Users of North America). She also has been active in ER&L (Electronic Resources and Libraries), CNI (Coalition for Networked Information) and Educause community. She is a regular writer and speaker on implementing technologies in user-centered library services. Her research interests focus on developing value stream driven technology framework and processes to enhance library services.
- Greg Argo, Associate Director, Access & Digital Services (University of St. Thomas)
Greg facilitates access to library services in various physical and digital environments including library systems, the Canvas LMS, and the campus portal. His interests span the technical, psychological, and organizational needs for and barriers to implementing new technologies and systems, and are informed by his experiences as the project lead on implementing multiple new library systems, development partnerships, and learning management system integrations. Talk to Greg about leading course materials initiatives; next-gen resource sharing; integrating digital services within Canvas; building contextual user services via APIs; and, in general, university-level integrations between systems. University of St. Thomas Libraries use Leganto, Rapido, Primo VE, and Alma.
- Allen Jones, Director – Digital Library and Technical Services (The New School Libraries and Archives)
Allen Jones is the director of Digital Library and Technical Services at The New School Libraries & Archives in New York City. He is the former Primo Product Working Group chair for the Ex Libris User group of North America (ELUNA) and he is currently the chair of the ELUNA Steering Committee. While he was chair of the Primo Working Group, the working group worked closely with Ex Libris product management on a framework for discovery interface customization, which included the Primo Studio application. This framework shared between the user community and ExLibris led to over 100 institutional customizations that continue to be implemented as the Primo and Primo VE products are deployed. A similar development framework has been deployed for Alma Apps.
- Pascal Calarco, Systems Librarian (University of Windsor)
Pascal has served in academic libraries in the United States and Canada since graduating from McGill University’s Library and Information Studies program in 1995, 20 of those years in administrative positions. Beginning his career at Yale University, he later worked at Virginia Commonwealth University, and the University of Notre Dame before returning to Canada, serving at the University of Waterloo as an Associate University Librarian (2011-2016) and most recently completed a term as University Librarian for Leddy Library, University if Windsor (2016-2021). He is a Fellow of the ARL Leadership Fellows Program, 2013-2015. He is currently working on a Masters, Political Science part-time at the University of Windsor. Pascal also serves as liaison for Leddy’s Polonia collection, Scholarly Communications Librarian for 2021-2022, and is working on Bibliometrics and Research Impact services for the Leddy Library. Pascal also currently is a Visiting Program Officer at the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) for the Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Task Force.
- Tamar Sadeh, Vice President, Teaching and Learning Solutions (Ex Libris, Part of Clarivate)
With a degree in computer science and mathematics, Tamar began her career developing search engines for structured and unstructured data. At Ex Libris, Tamar has taken an active role in defining and promoting the company’s various products since she joined in 1999. In the past few years, she has been leading the Company’s initiatives around teaching and learning. Tamar holds a doctorate from City University London’s School of Informatics. In parallel to her work at Ex Libris, Tamar is a narrator for audiobooks at the Central Library for the Blind.
