Business News

New Ex Libris branding

Monday 07. January 2008 - On January 7, 2008, Ex Libris Group launched its new corporate branding, which the company has begun to apply to all of its communications worldwide.

We believe that this new look and feel, which represents the culmination of an extensive process, accurately reflects the spirit and direction of the company—the only library vendor providing library software solutions that facilitate the management, dissemination, and discovery of the full spectrum of library materials to academic, research, and national libraries around the world.
General
What motivated Ex Libris to adopt new branding?
Since its establishment in the 1980s, Ex Libris has been at the forefront of library automation and has retained its leadership position by combining award-winning technological expertise with a thorough understanding of market trends. As the library automation industry has grown and matured, so have Ex Libris and the company’s product suite. This evolution is reflected in the way that the company has portrayed itself in the visual medium and in content over the years.
Whereas the look and feel that we are leaving behind focused to a great extent on the world of traditional library materials—namely, print—our current message relates to our comprehensive product suite, which enables libraries around the world to manage and disseminate the full spectrum of library materials—print, electronic, and digital. We work closely with our customers to design products that empower libraries to meet user demands for quick, easy, and effective discovery and delivery of knowledge. These are the messages that we aim to convey in the words, images, and colors that we have chosen.
Does the new branding indicate any corporate changes?
Although it is sporting a new logo and a redesigned visual corporate identity, Ex Libris remains the same company in every way. Our new language reflects the
corporate goals, strategy, and management style that have helped make Ex Libris a leading provider of library automation solutions to academic, research, and national libraries around the world.
Does the new branding reflect any change in the company’s product suite?
Ex Libris continues to enhance, support, and sell its entire product suite, while at the same time the company is designing and developing new product offerings to meet the evolving needs of our users.
New Web site
The new Ex Libris Website does not have a Documentation Center button. How do I access Ex Libris documentation?
The new Web site features a Customer Center button, located in the upper-right corner of each page. In addition to providing links to the Documentation Center, eService, and SupportWeb, the Customer Center includes a composite of recent regional industry and company-related news and events.
Do I access Ex Libris services such as eService, SupportWeb, and CustomerFirst in the same way as in the past?
The eService, SupportWeb, and CustomerFirst URL bookmarks have not changed. You can also access these services through the links on the Customer Center page (www.exlibrisgroup.com/customercenter).
New corporate logo
The Ex Libris logo now shows the company name as one word. Is this how I should write it from now on?
The logo represents a stylized version of the name. However, the official name of the company is still Ex Libris, and we will continue to write it as two words in all documentation.
What is the significance of the multicolored bridge in the logo?
The bridge in the upper part of the logo echoes the company’s new tagline—the bridge to knowledge. The colors of the spectrum represent the full spectrum of library materials and processes that Ex Libris software solutions enable institutions to manage. Together, these graphic elements express the Ex Libris mission of helping empower patrons to identify and obtain the information they need quickly and easily, anytime and anywhere.
New product logos
It seems that each of the primary colors is associated with an Ex Libris product. What colors will be associated with new products?
By choosing the full spectrum of colors for our brand identity, we have essentially ensured that we will have enough unique colors to represent any potential future products.
Aleph used to be written in all capital letters, and now only the A is capitalized. Is this how it should be spelled?
ALEPH was initially an acronym for Automated Library Expandable Program by the Hebrew University. In the 20 years since the product was developed, the original meaning has become less well known. Although the original acronym will remain a cool bit of Ex Libris trivia, we came to the conclusion that it is more intuitive to capitalize just the first letter of the word.
I don’t see the SFX linking icon next to the SFX logo. Is the icon no longer in use?
In an effort to enhance recognition of the Ex Libris corporate logo and strengthen the association of the products with the company brand, Ex Libris has chosen to discontinue the use of individual product logo icons.
Because the SFX linking icon has been so widely adopted by the over 1,500 institutions running this product, we have decided to retain the SFX linking icon on SFX buttons and have also adopted the icon’s color as the official SFX hue.