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Introduction
The Hilton M. Briggs Library at South Dakota State University (SDSU) is the largest and most comprehensive library in South Dakota (USA) and serves all academic disciplines of SDSU. The library has more than one million volumes, and subscribes to over 200 licensed databases. The Briggs Library had used EBSCO A-Z to assist the users in determining whether the library holds specific journal titles in either paper or electronic formats for many years. In 2008, a decision was taken to migrate EBSCO A-Z to special effects (SFX) as the library is always committed to providing a better service for the patrons. The migration project involved over 47,000 electronic journals and 10,000 print journals.
SFX
From 1998 to 2000, Herbert van de Sompel and Patrick Hochstenbach at Ghent University in Belgium developed the OpenURL framework, which eventually led to the birth of the de facto standard OpenURL 0.1. Based on the OpenURL framework, they implemented the generic linking system, the link resolver, called SFX - short for special effects ([17], [18], [19] van de Sompel and Hochstenbach, 1999a, b, c). In 2000, Ex Libris (www.exlibris.co.il), acquired the SFX server software from Ghent University. Ex Libris re-engineered the software and released it to libraries as the first commercial OpenURL link resolver on the market in 2001 ([20] Walker, 2001a; [23] Wilson, 2004).
A SFX server is an institutional service component that is purchased by an institution and remains under their control and management. A SFX server offers a single point for the administration of linking services. A librarian may determine which resources will be linked and how these will be linked ([21] Walker, 2001b). A SFX server can be installed locally or can be hosted by Ex Libris, called SFX Hosting Services. A SFX server may be implemented in single or multiple sites within an institution, or in a consortium environment. Each SFX installation can have several instances. In this case, each institution or local site has its own instance and is responsible for all data and configurations.
In SFX, the entire database is called the "KnowledgeBase" ([12] Robertson and Soderdahl, 2004). Ex Libris provides a global KnowledgeBase of resource templates that can be localized and customized by an institution to match their own collection. Ex...