Serials Solutions was a division of

ProQuest ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene B. Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for libraries, provid ...

that provided e-resource access and management services (

ERAMS ERAMS (e-resource access and management services) are a way of thinking about library management to help libraries optimize the access, usage, data, and workflows of electronic library collections in the physical and digital library. Background ...

) to libraries. These products enabled librarians to more easily manage electronic resources that serve the needs of their users. Serials Solutions became part of ProQuest Workflow Solutions in 2011 and the "Serials Solutions" name was retired in 2014. In 2015, Proquest acquired

Ex Libris Group Ex Libris Group is an Israeli software company that develops integrated library systems and other library software. The company is headquartered in Jerusalem, and has ten other offices around the world. In October 2015, Ex Libris was acquired by ...

, a library automation company with many similar products to those of ProQuest Workflow Solutions. The Workflow Solutions division was to be merged with Ex Libris into a new business group called "Ex Libris, a ProQuest Company".

History

Serials Solutions was conceived in 1999 over beers by brothers Steve, Mike, and Peter McCracken after recognizing that providing relief to the frustrations of library patrons in navigating electronic resources was a profitable domain to pursue. Serials Solutions was incorporated in March 2000. The business grew from a four-man operation run out of the McCrackens' basement to a multimillion-dollar company in the Fremont neighborhood of

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

. During the company's first year of operation, co-founder Peter McCracken worked on this emerging company while simultaneously working full-time as a reference librarian at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

Odegaard Undergraduate Library The Charles E. Odegaard Undergraduate Library (OUGL) is a library on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. It houses secondary stacks, a learning commons and on-campus technology resources for students, primarily under ...

."Peter McCracken: Librarian as Entrepreneur; How a University of Washington reference librarian helped launch one of the hottest companies in the library market", ''

Library Journal ''Library Journal'' is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional prac ...

'', August 01, 2001, Features; Pg. 44, 2287 words, By Norman Oder, Associate Editor, LJ In 2009 Peter McCracken, then Director of Research, left the company to pursue technology projects related to his lifelong interest in

maritime history Maritime history is the study of human interaction with and activity at sea. It covers a broad thematic element of history that often uses a global approach, although national and regional histories remain predominant. As an academic subject, it ...

, namely ShipIndex.org, a vessel researching site. In 2004, Serials Solutions became a division of

(Information and Learning division). In 2007, ProQuest Information and Learning was acquired by

CSA CSA may refer to: Arts and media * Canadian Screen Awards, annual awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television * Commission on Superhuman Activities, a fictional American government agency in Marvel Comics * Crime Syndicate of Amer ...

and the Cambridge Information Group and briefly became ProQuest CSA before the company settled on the original ProQuest name as a "new" brand. As part of the ProQuest-CSA acquisition, Serials Solutions merged with

Ulrich's Ulrich's Periodicals Directory (, and ) is the standard library directory and database providing information about popular and academic magazines, scientific journals, newspapers and other serial publications. The print version has been publishe ...

and became the primary retailer of the Ulrich's services Ulrichsweb.com and Ulrich's Serials Analysis System. In May 2005, Jane Burke, former CEO of Endeavor Information Systems became the head of Serials Solutions. Burke had already led successful library technology ventures.Jane Burke Joins Serials Solutions; Library automation veteran named general manager and VP for parent ProQuest, Library Journal, July 15, 2005, INFOTECH; Pg. 25, 527 words, By Michael Rogers Serials Solutions headquarters was located in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle.Serials Solutions Moves, Library Journal, September 1, 2005, INFOTECH; Pg. 27, 52 words, By Staff In 2011 Serials Solutions became part of the ProQuest's new Workflow Solutions division. The "Serials Solutions" name was retired and replaced with the "ProQuest" brand name in 2014.

Product list

* AquaBrowser

Discovery layer A discovery system is a bibliographic search system based on search engine technology. It is part of the concept of Library 2.0 and is intended to supplement or even replace the existing OPAC catalogs. These systems emerged in the late 2000s in re ...

that provides a Web interface and single search box for querying the

library catalog A library catalog (or library catalogue in British English) is a register of all bibliographic items found in a library or group of libraries, such as a network of libraries at several locations. A catalog for a group of libraries is also c ...

and other local library collections; also integrates with 360 Search for discovery of the library's subscribed electronic content * The Summon service

Web-scale Scalability is the property of a system to handle a growing amount of work by adding resources to the system. In an economic context, a scalable business model implies that a company can increase sales given increased resources. For example, a ...

discovery service Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discover ...

, described as similar to Google but for accessing a library's academic content. It provides a single search box for finding all items in a library's collection including books, electronic resources such as

e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...

s, e-journals and academic databases, multimedia items and other holdings. It executes searches against a database of preharvested content, preferably by indexing the full text, and offers the ability to use facets to refine searches by restricting results to properties such as date range or content type. * KnowledgeWorksRepository of bibliographic metadata for electronic journals, books and other e-resources, maintained and managed by Serials Solutions librarians in partnership with publishers, for use with other Serials Solutions services * 360 LinkLink resolver that accepts data that identifies a particular information resource, typically generated by an

Abstracting and Indexing An abstracting service is a service that provides abstracts of publications, often on a subject or group of related subjects, usually on a subscription basis. An indexing service is a service that assigns descriptors and other kinds of access poin ...

database or discovery service and supplied in

OpenURL An OpenURL is similar to a web address, but instead of referring to a physical website, it refers to an article, book, patent, or other resource within a website. OpenURLs are similar to permalinks because they are permanently connected to a re ...

format, and returns a link to the resource in the library's collection if it is available * 360 Search

Federated search Federated search retrieves information from a variety of sources via a search application built on top of one or more search engines. A user makes a single query request which is distributed to the search engines, databases or other query engines ...

service that provides a single search facility across multiple separate resources, including individual publisher databases and local holdings in the library catalog; includes the ability to filter to only

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

journal articles or to only resources for which the library has access to the full text * 360 MARC UpdatesService that supplies up-to-date

MARC Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging, * MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system of ...

records for e-journals and e-books, allowing those resources to be included in the library

OPAC The online public access catalog (OPAC), now frequently synonymous with '' library catalog'', is an online database of materials held by a library or group of libraries. Online catalogs have largely replaced the analog card catalogs previously ...

without the library staff having to create those records, update and catalog them * 360 Resource Manager

Electronic resource management Electronic resource management (ERM) is the practices and techniques used by librarians and library staff to track the selection, acquisition, licensing, access, maintenance, usage, evaluation, retention, and de-selection of a library's electronic i ...

system for tracking and managing subscriptions, license terms and holdings data for electronic resources; also available in a

Consortium A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for ...

Edition * 360 CounterService that collects statistics about use of electronic resources from publishers, tracks usage over time, and generates reports and cost analyses so libraries can make better-informed decisions about their electronic holdings * 360 CoreFoundational service that consolidates information about all of a library's electronic holdings, and provides tools for access and management * UlrichswebOnline and searchable access to

, recognized as the authoritative source for bibliographic and publisher information on periodicals; a reference used by both library users and librarians, that also facilitates linking to full text of articles * Ulrich's Serials Analysis SystemAnalysis and reporting system for assessing a library's serials collection, identifying strengths, weaknesses, and serials that can enhance the collection *Intota web-scale collection management system aims to address the needs of today's libraries that are still using systems designed for print, while library collections have become increasingly electronic. It has been described as a total reconceptualization of library management systems, addressing the complete resource lifecycle including selection, acquisition, cataloging, discovery and fulfillment. It includes the following elements: ** Unified workflows for managing all types of library resources ** A new knowledgebase of authoritative metadata, lowering costs for data acquisition ** Assessment capability that shows how collections are used, demonstrating the value of the library ** Interoperability with other systems both inside and outside the library, facilitated through published APIs * Intota Assessment, a library collection analytics service that is part of the Intota system, debuted in 2013.

Notes

External links

Serials Solutions corporate website

ProQuest LLC

Ulrichsweb.com
{{Authority control Library 2.0 ProQuest