| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software |
| Headquarters | Provo, Utah, United States |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Key people | Matthew J. Hawkins, (CEO) John Gardiner, (CFO) Bill Davison, (COO) Talin R. Bingham, (CTO) |
| Products | Integrated library systems |
| Parent | Vista Equity Partners |
| Website | sirsidynix.com |
SirsiDynix (previously Sirsi Corporation), is a United States company that produces software solutions and associated services for libraries of all types (academic, public, corporate, government, public/private K–12 schools and special).[1] The company is based in Provo, Utah,[2] and employs approximately 400 in offices worldwide.[3] SirsiDynix claims to be a global leader in providing "technology solutions" to libraries.[4] SirsiDynix systems are installed in more than 23,000 libraries around the world,[5] and can be used to link numerous libraries and provide unified access through one portal.[6] The company was bought out by Vista Equity Partners in 2007, a private equity firm based in San Francisco, CA.[7]
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In 2007, SirsiDynix partnered with Brainware Inc. to incorporate Brainware's context-based search technology into SirsiDynix' library search products.[8] In 2008, SirsiDynix announced a partnership with ChiliFresh to provide a customizable review system so library patrons can review and read reviews of library material.[9][10]
The Sirsi Corporation was founded in Huntsville, Alabama, in 1979,[11] by Mike Murdock, Jacky Young, and Jim Young. The Unicorn library automation system they developed was first installed at Georgia Tech. Sirsi acquired Data Research Associates (DRA), in 2001.[6]
The Dynix Corporation was founded in 1983, and SirsiDynix was formed by the merger of the Sirsi and Dynix corporations in June 2005.
SirsiDynix and Stanford university libraries worked together for over a year to upgrade Stanford's library environment to support Asian and other multi-byte character sets.[12] SirsiDynix has also partnered with 3M to provide radio-frequency identification systems for libraries.[13]
SirsiDynix offers the Building Better Communities Award, created to recognize innovative use of technology in libraries. In 2006, Delaware County Community College was chosen to receive the award and $10,000 prize.[14]
The latest ILS product is SirsiDynix Symphony, released in December 2007. This is really just a slightly upgraded version of the Unicorn ILS product.
The equivalent products from Dynix Corporation are Horizon and the earlier-generation Dynix system. Dynix was first developed on mainframe computers and is still widely used in libraries throughout the world. Dynix Corporation obtained the trademark for the term "Dynix" from IBM in 2001. Prior to the appearance of web-based catalog interfaces, Dynix-based library catalogs could be remotely accessed using Dialcat.
The main product inherited from Sirsi is the Unicorn integrated library system (ILS).
Enterprise is a search and discovery tool that allows users to find what they need accurately, using a single search need box, even when typos are involved.[15]
SirsiDynix has released a product called Director's Station. Director's Station offers detailed reporting statistics, and AJAX-enhanced front end.[16]
Web Reporter allows librarians to generate usage reports and do statistical analysis. There is some overlap in functionality with the Director's Station product.[17]
SchoolRooms is a paid, comprehensive, integrated multimedia online discovery portal service offered by SirsiDynix for K–12 schools and communities.[18]
Dialcat was a remote character-based interface used to access Dynix-based library catalogs. As the internet became more readily available in the mid-90’s Dynix libraries made Dialcat available on telnet. Using Dialcat, a user could, among other things, browse and search a library’s system and place holds on desired items to be retrieved at a library of their choice.
As web browsers became a ubiquitous component of personal computing, Dialcat was first supplemented with, and eventually replaced by, web-based catalog interfaces, which integrated rich catalog data (such as book cover images) and could be accessed from public web terminals and kiosks, most of which do not allow telnet use.
The interface became obsolete in early 2005.[19]