The Ontario Council of University Libraries
and Fretwell-Downing Inc.
bring new meaning to "resource sharing" in Ontario

Fretwell-Downing Inc. (FD Inc.) is pleased to announce its strategic new partnership with The Ontario Council of University Libraries, a consortium of university libraries. 

Marshall Clinton, Director of Information Technology Services at the University of Toronto Library explains the fortunate pact: "Shortly after the University of Toronto selected FD Inc.'s outstanding VDX (Virtual Document eXchange) system to manage its own interlibrary loan and document delivery services, it began acting as an application service provider for the nineteen universities comprising the Ontario Council of Universities." 

Prior to the alliance with FD Inc., the Ontario universities used a variety of systems to manage their library catalogs and to support their interlibrary loan activities.  Now, with FD Inc.'s VDX system in place, the universities can work effectively together like never before. Clinton says, "The VDX system will be the foundation for an Ontario union catalog. This will simplify the discovery of resources throughout the province for faculty and students."

The Ontario Council of University Libraries selected FD Inc. over competitors because its VDX system boasts a "richness of features, support for the wide range of library catalog systems used in the consortiums' universities, the ability to inter-operate with other systems, and, of course, the reasonable cost." 

FD Inc. also won the job, Clinton says, due to its "long-time involvement in systems that support consortium-wide interlibrary loan and document delivery services." He adds, "Our long-term our partnership with FD Inc. will present opportunities for greater cooperation among the nineteen universities and for new services to support students, faculty and researchers."

Just like when the Ontario Library Service selected FD Inc. as its solutions partner in April, 2001, the Ontario Council of University Libraries– VDX initiative brings new meaning to "resource sharing" in Ontario. "It brings new opportunities for inter-university cooperation." Clinton states, "Student and faculty will have better, more convenient access to resources. And libraries will be better able to manage their collections and resources."  The Ontario Council of University Libraries supports a over 261,500 students. 

For more than ten years, Fretwell-Downing Inc. (FD) has been a global leader in the evolution of digital libraries.  Delivering the highest level of service and flexibility, FD offers libraries a seamless choice of standards-based solutions.  Building toward a solid vision of a "library without walls", FD's "freedom by design" philosophy delivers the unique ability to integrate disparate library systems, as well as creating entirely new digital solutions.