Fujitsu has introduced Ufinity for Public, a Software as a Service (SaaS) offering for public libraries throughout Japan, extending from the prefectural level to local municipalities.
Ufinity for Public is designed to bring convenience to both library patrons and staff through portal sites where the portal site provides a searchable environment for patrons and staff to use for library news or checking and searching on new-acquisitions data.
In addition, the new service also includes the features for administering interlibrary loans and staff communication over the web; and a horizontal search function to simultaneously search not only public libraries within a prefecture but also the collections in university libraries, museums, and other affiliated institutions.
The service makes it easy for administrators to create and edit their portal sites by selecting components from a menu of more than 20 options which includes news; RSS and blog features, said the company.
To enables horizontal searching and interlibrary loans, the new library service integrates the libraries operationally.
It supports three types of user pages for library staff: public pages for patrons, community pages for library staff as a group, and individual pages for individual staff members for smoother adminstration.
Fujitsu said the Ufinity for Public service can be rapidly deployed at low-cost operations.
