Alibris Offers
Access to Books For Sale Through OCLC WorldCat Resource Sharing Service
50 million new, used, and hard-to-find books can now be purchased
through ILL
EMERYVILLE, CA - January 17, 2005—Alibris (ALBRS) and the
Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) announced today that Alibris has
made access to their entire inventory of 50 million new, used, and hard-to-find
books available for purchase through the OCLC WorldCat Resource Sharing
service.
The Alibris system will make one of the world's broadest selections of
books available to Interlibrary Loan (ILL) librarians for purchase-everything
from today's best selling fiction to yesterday's obscure, out-of-print
scholarly treatise.
Now libraries that use WorldCat Resource Sharing (formerly the OCLC ILL
Service) can order a book instantly. Alibris will fill the order with
the lowest-priced copy available in the best condition. Books are usually
delivered in 7-10 business days, and Alibris backs every purchase with
a 30-day money-back guarantee.
"This agreement offers another option to help libraries find the
books they need so that they can get them quickly into the hands of the
patrons who have requested them," said Matt Goldner, Global Product
Manager, OCLC Resource Sharing. "By making the Alibris collection
accessible through WorldCat Resource Sharing, library staff will be able
to find books that might be unavailable from other libraries, and they
will be able to quickly and easily add requested books to their collections."
Recent scholarly research has demonstrated that it is often less expensive
and faster for a library to buy a book outright, based on a patron's ILL
request, rather than to borrow it once (sometimes more than once) and
then return it. Moreover, ILL-initiated acquisitions make sense from a
collection-development perspective: These books tend to circulate at least
as much as firm-order purchases, are consistently relevant to the collection,
and fill gaps in interdisciplinary areas.
"We've seen a growing consensus among librarians that purchasing
a book is often preferable to borrowing it. In response to this, Alibris
has developed a streamlined, highly efficient system that is fully integrated
with the OCLC WorldCat Resource Sharing Service," said Dudley Emmert,
Alibris Director of Business Development.
"This means that ILL librarians can now purchase books from Alibris
in exactly the same way that they borrow books from other libraries. Just
enter the Alibris symbol (ALBRS), set your maxcost, and you're done. Alibris
even utilizes OCLC's ILL Fee Management (IFM) service for payment-so there
are no additional invoicing or payment headaches," Emmert continued.
"Over the past six months, we've been in pilot with a select group
of libraries, and the results have been excellent. We're extremely pleased
to announce that Alibris books are now available worldwide to any OCLC
WorldCat Resource Sharing service user."
About Alibris
Alibris is the premiere online destination for new, used, rare, and out-of- print books. We connect people who love books, music, and movies to the best independent sellers from 45 countries around the world. Our proprietary technology and advanced logistics allow us to offer over 60 million used, new, and out-of-print books to consumers, libraries, and retailers, which include Barnes & Noble, Borders, Amazon.com, and Books-A-Million. Founded in 1998 and acquired by Oak Hill Capital Partners in 2006, Deloitte named Alibris a “Fast 50” and a “Technology Fast 500” growth business in 2005. Alibris is a registered trademark.
For more information
Web site: http://www.alibris.com/library
E-mail: libraries@alibris.com
Toll-free phone: 1.877.ALIBRIS (1.877.254.2747), option 1
Media Inquires
All press inquiries should be directed to:
A.J. Kohn at pr@alibris.com.
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About OCLC
Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, OCLC Online Computer Library Center is
a nonprofit organization that provides computer-based cataloging, reference,
resource sharing, eContent, and preservation services to 52,000 libraries
in 95 countries and territories. For more information, visit www.oclc.org.
For more information about ILL, go to:
Web site: http://www.oclc.org/ill/
For more information:
Bob Murphy
murphyb@oclc.org
+1-614-761-5136
