Specifications include, but are not limited to: The Keystone Library Network implemented Ex Libris’ proprietary Library Services Platform (Alma) in 2015. The Alma Primo system is the copyrighted intellectual property of Ex Libris and cannot not be sourced from any other vendor. Each of the PASSHE Universities has built its library operations around this product. Tight integrations with other services have been developed to enhance information access and business workflows such as: interlibrary loan, bursar transfers, student information systems, and information discovery. During the time of the existing contract (2015-2021), FTE employee numbers continued to decline, including highly specialized cataloging, systems management, and electronic acquisition personnel, all of whom are needed for a migration to any other platform. The Commonwealth would be unduly harmed if any other vendor were selected to provide the KLN Library Service Platform Services. A migration to any other system could potentially take greater than a year and the expertise/capacity or our workforce continues to diminish across the system jeopardizing any successful migration and business continuity.
