November 15, 2016, LEHI, UT—SirsiDynix is pleased to announce that the first six adopters of a national Welsh library system have gone live on Symphony. In autumn of 2015, the Welsh Government announced a major step forward in their momentous project to unite the country on a single library system. Following a competitive tender process, the Welsh Government chose SirsiDynix to support its public library services. Recently, the first six local authorities in North Wales completed the implementation of the shared SaaS-supported system and are now live. The launch of the Wales system highlights the increasing momentum SirsiDynix is experiencing in the UK.

The new Wales system allows patrons to use a single card to check out materials from any public library location, rather than restricting users only to the local authority to which they are registered. In addition to the benefit of expanding patron access, the move from individual, local systems to a single, unified system will save authorities up to 70% on automation costs.

Following the recently completed adoption of the first six authorities, SirsiDynix is working with the remaining authorities to prepare for implementation of the national system. All sites will be supported by SirsiDynix’s industry-leading SaaS, which offers 99.95% uptime as well as rigorous security certifications.

Wales Public Library Services representative Bob Morris commented on the project, “Cooperation is a crucial part of the efforts of public library services in Wales to fulfil their statutory duty to provide a comprehensive and efficient service for their residents. The adoption of a Library Computer Management System for Wales is fully supported by members of SCL Cymru which sees this project as a development to existing local authority collaborations. The Welsh Public Libraries Books Purchasing Consortium and the online Digital Library are working examples of providing choice and value for public library users. With the launch of the first phase in North Wales, this project will offer benefits for all authorities and is an important step forward to ensuring sustainable models of delivery of Welsh public library services. SirsiDynix were chosen to help us deliver this vision as their expertise within consortial environments coupled with their industry-leading software provided the perfect catalyst to ensure all of our objectives could be delivered on time and within budget.”

Barbara Pacut, the SirsiDynix EMEA VP expressed her regard for the momentous project. Said Pacut, “We share in Welsh Government’s vision of a fully integrated, national public library service and understand, through experience, how crucial the technology solution underpinning this service will be. This project is our opportunity to deliver a state of the art, totally integrated, world class experience to the public and library services staff of Wales.”

“Uniting a nation on a single library system is an historic undertaking and SirsiDynix is honored to have been chosen to support this initiative,” said Bill Davison, SirsiDynix CEO. “The flexibility of Symphony’s best-of-breed architecture is ideal for a large system that requires both power and granular control. Symphony coupled with BLUEcloud is an excellent fit for the needs of this undertaking. We look forward to supporting the public libraries in Wales and to finding new ways to enhance service delivery in Welsh libraries.”

About SirsiDynix

SirsiDynix connects people with knowledge at more than 23,000 libraries around the world. Through library management technology and search and discovery tools, libraries using SirsiDynix technology bring relevant resources and the power of knowledge to their users and communities. SirsiDynix technology is architected to be open, scalable, and robust, offering a complete out-of-the-box solution and unparalleled flexibility through APIs and web services. Complemented by the most experienced training, consulting, and support staff in the industry, SirsiDynix helps libraries create tomorrow’s libraries, today.