NEWS

A Landmark for Scholarly Linking: Ex Libris Announces the Release of SFX 4.0

The new version of the world’s most widely used OpenURL link resolver enhances the unique combination of rich, fully customizable functionality and a comprehensive, up-to-date knowledge base of e-resources

Ex Libris® Group, the world’s leading provider of library automation solutions, is pleased to announce the general release of version 4.0 of its SFX® OpenURL link resolver, already deployed at over 1800 institutions in 53 countries. With the updated and enhanced administrative interface and the redesigned structure of the SFX KnowledgeBase, librarians benefit from streamlined workflows, new functionality, and more frequent KnowledgeBase updates for both hosted and local SFX installations.  

New administrative functions—many of which are the direct result of feedback from the customer community—further emphasize the importance that libraries attribute to maintaining full control over the way in which they expose their e-collection to their users and brand the library’s scholarly services. And what’s more, SFX has been keeping up with the times. As the scholarly environment has evolved, configurations have been added to SFX to accommodate changes in library services and the development of new ones, such as the bX article recommender service.  

“We are very excited to make SFX 4.0 available to our entire faculty and student body,” commented Sarah Pearson, e-resources and serials coordinator at the University of Birmingham in the UK, a participant in the version 4 beta testing. “Our experience in testing this version has been extremely positive; the new-look SFX Admin is very easy to work with, and our library staff anticipates that the more frequent KnowledgeBase updates will be a great success. Since we introduced SFX at our library, it has been a very important part of the library services and our users really like it!”  

Part of the next-generation user-centered offering from Ex Libris, SFX is available for seamless integration with the Ex Libris Primo® discovery and delivery solution (including the newly introduced Primo Central index of scholarly e-content), MetaLib® gateway and metasearch solution, and bX article recommender service. The SFX link resolver can be implemented on its own as well.  

Christine Stohn, SFX product manager at Ex Libris, noted: “The release of version 4.0 is a very exciting milestone for Ex Libris and our international customer community. SFX 4 meets our customers’ evolving needs by providing enhancements to the already rich functionality of SFX and expanding the comprehensive KnowledgeBase. In addition, this version enables our customers to benefit from the combination of a fully customizable environment and more frequent KnowledgeBase updates. All these features are available regardless of whether the library implements SFX locally or has Ex Libris do the hosting.”

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