PROVO, Utah, September 16, 2009 – SirsiDynix®, the global leader in library technology solutions, announces that Shanxi Provincial Library in Shanxi Province, China, is now using the SirsiDynix Symphony® integrated library system (ILS) to provide their staff and community powerful access to their vast collection of volumes, cultural and scientific resources, and educational tools.

“Our resource collection is unique and diverse, and we need technology that supports where we are today and where we are going in the future,” said Mr. Lin Xie, library director for the Shanxi Provincial Library. “Symphony fully supports not only simplified Chinese characters, but traditional characters as well, not to mention Russian and Japanese. We selected SirsiDynix because of their industry expertise; we selected Symphony because of its comprehensive library management technology that responds to the needs of every user of the library system.”

Before the implementation of Symphony and a complement of SirsiDynix library management and productivity solutions, the library’s catalog omitted portions of Shanxi Provincial’s valuable collection due to the lack of language and character support. With the Symphony solution, Shanxi Provincial Library is able to catalog, label, circulate and manage their entire collection efficiently, providing their community powerful, all-encompassing access to a wealth of information and resources.

The library, holding more resources than any other library in the Shanxi Province, uses Symphony’s robust technology to catalog their diverse collection, including an ancient book protection center with over 400,000 rare books, a youth specific literature center and a national culture information collection. The library currently holds over 3 million books, including 210,000 foreign language books, newspapers and periodicals, with an annual circulation of over 2 million to over 130,000 patrons.

SirsiDynix used global resources from London, Provo and Melbourne to ensure the large-scale implementation was completed on schedule and within budget, according to Matthew Hawkins, chief operating officer for SirsiDynix. “Shanxi Provincial Library is a valued customer. We are delighted with the outcome of this Chinese language implementation, and are enthusiastic about the next stage of Shanxi Library’s project,” said Mr. Hawkins.

The library is now employing SirsiDynix’s global resources to implement the Symphony solution at over 100 district libraries, expanding the powerful access to information to the users in the entire Shanxi Province.

“Shanxi Provincial Library is an information leader in Shanxi, and with Symphony, will prove to be a leader in information access in China,” said Gary Rautenstrauch, chief executive officer for SirsiDynix. “The library is the first to take advantage of Symphony’s full language support in China, and will serve as a model for other Chinese libraries that wish to bring their collections under a single technology solution. SirsiDynix is honored to be an integral part of Shanxi Library’s pioneering approach to connecting their patrons with the library’s impressive collection.”

Symphony incorporates open, industry-standard technologies, offering libraries an expansive list of features and capabilities. These include an open n-tier architecture, software-as-a-service (SaaS) options, powerful search and discovery solutions, comprehensive integrated library management and productivity solutions, Java-based staff clients for all modules, fully documented application programming interfaces (APIs) that support unparalleled customizability and integration capabilities, Unicode support, advanced business intelligence and reporting tools, support for API, SIP2 and NCIP and embedded and full Oracle database support.

For more information about SirsiDynix Symphony, contact your SirsiDynix sales consultant or email sales-apac@sirsidynix.com.

# # #

About SirsiDynix

SirsiDynix is the global leader in strategic technology solutions for libraries – vital institutions whose primary mission is to assist people in discovering and using knowledge, resources and other valuable content for their educations, jobs and entertainment. In concert with key industry partners, SirsiDynix supports this strategic role for libraries by offering a comprehensive integrated suite of technology solutions that improve the internal productivity of libraries and enhance their capacity to partner with their communities through the provision of state of the art library management systems (LMS) and search and discovery solutions. SirsiDynix serves approximately 4,000 libraries and consortia that provide services to over 300 million people through more than 20,000 library outlets in the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. For more information, please see www.sirsidynix.com.

About Shanxi Provincial Library

Shanxi Province Library is located in Xian City, about 40 kilometers from Qin Shi Huang Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum. Founded in September 1909, the library is one of the earliest provincial public libraries in China. The library covers 2.03 hectares with the building area of 42,000 square meters, serving more than 130,000 patrons, with immediate plans for expanding access to their collection to over 100 district libraries to serve the entire Shanxi area. The library’s collection includes over 1.4 million monograph volumes and nearly 400,000 rare books, as well as 210,000 foreign language books, newspapers and periodicals. After a century of collection development, the Shanxi Provincial Library holds a rich collection of local Shanxi history. In recent years, the Shanxi Provincial Library has invested in a collection of UNESCO publications and information on American higher education. The library has established an international book exchange program with US and Japan for collection development. For more information, please visit http://www.sxlib.org.cn/