ANN ARBOR — ProQuest, the Ann Arbor-based information services provider, announced the development of a new service called Rialto, which it says is a novel approach to unifying selection and acquisition in academic libraries.
Through benchmark analytics, recommendations, and a comprehensive marketplace with content of all types – books, ebooks, video and more — from many sources, ProQuest says Rialto will make libraries more effective and efficient.
Ten universities are partnering with ProQuest to guide the development of Rialto. North American development partners include Boston University, Northeastern University, San Jose State University, Southern Methodist University, University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Windsor. Development partners from the United Kingdom are University of Edinburgh, University of Leicester, Northumbria University and Imperial College London.
“This is about reimagining how libraries select and acquire content in ways never before possible, solving longstanding pain points and inefficiencies in the library,” said Oren Beit-Arie, ProQuest Chief Strategy Officer. “Rialto is focused on addressing library and user needs. Its comprehensive marketplace enables the selection of non-ProQuest and ProQuest content of all types, putting choice in the library and aligning with our core value of supporting openness.”
“Involving libraries and users in the development is an essential part of our process. That’s why we are so pleased these 10 schools have joined with us,” said Audrey Marcus, ProQuest vice president of product and operations. “In fact, we’re expanding the roster of partners. In early 2019, we will begin recruiting universities in Australia and New Zealand.”
Rich Belanger, senior vice president and general manager, ProQuest Books, blogs about Rialto here. Hear from the development partners and get updates on ProQuest Rialto here.
ProQuest curates content, assembling an archive of billions of vetted, indexed documents, simplifies workflows, and connects information communities.