The UCLA Library has announced that the contract for its new online information system has been awarded to Endeavor Information Systems after a competitive bid process. Three vendors submitted proposals in response to UCLA’s Request for Proposal — Endeavor Information Systems, Ex Libris and Sirsi Corp.

Voyager, Endeavor’s integrated information management system, features a Web-based public access catalog, cataloging functions, acquisitions and serials management, circulation services, and course reserves. Other major academic and research libraries using Voyager include Columbia University, Cornell University, Getty Research Institute, Library of Congress, National Library of Medicine, Princeton University, University of Illinois, University of Pennsylvania, University of Wisconsin and Yale University.

Faculty and student input was a significant element of the evaluation process that led to the selection of Voyager. Responses to a survey and in focus groups held during spring 2002 helped to identify key points of functionality users felt were essential in the new system; these were incorporated into the Request for Proposal that was issued in fall 2002. The systems of the three vendors that submitted proposals were also evaluated by students, faculty and staff, who provided feedback after formal demonstrations and individual “test drives� during February and March 2003.

The implementation of the Voyager system will begin immediately, with the goal of launching the public access catalog to users in fall 2004. Progress reports on the implementation process and opportunities for faculty and student input on the functionality and design elements of the catalog will be posted online at www.library.ucla.edu/otng.

Voyager will replace Taos, the software that operates ORION2, the Library’s current online information system. This move became necessary when Data Research Associates, the company that created Taos, was purchased in December 2001 by Sirsi Corp., which then decided to freeze development on Taos.

Ranked among the top 10 research libraries in the United States, the UCLA Library system is a campuswide network whose principal components are the Charles E. Young Research Library, the College Library and seven subject libraries. Its collections encompass more than 7.6 million volumes as well as important collections of archives, audiovisual materials, corporate reports, government publications, manuscripts, maps, microforms, oral history transcripts, photographs, technical reports and other scholarly resources.