IPSWICH, Mass. — February 27, 2020 — EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Zepheira, a provider of large-scale, decentralized linked data infrastructure. Zepheira’s mission is to connect libraries, archives and museums to make the world a smarter place. Zepheira uncovers previously hidden data and insights for patrons and facilitates connections between library systems and the open web. This acquisition reinforces EBSCO’s commitment to making information available when, where and how users need it.
The team behind Zepheira were leaders within the Semantic Web Initiative for the World Wide Web Consortia (W3C) while at MIT and co-founded the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative at OCLC. More recently Zepheira provided the technical leadership for the Library of Congress in developing the BIBFRAME Linked Data standard for bibliographic data. These are trusted and highly utilized data standards and working groups setting industry standards in both the library and broader information services community.
Zepheira’s linked data technology allows library data to be referenced on the open web and in knowledge panels by service providers such as Google. This makes it easier to bring additional patrons into the library system, expanding the reach of its content, and provides enriched and contextually relevant information for patrons. Following the integration of library collections data into the Google knowledge panel at the end of last year, the impact of these technologies for libraries is increasing. EBSCO first partnered with Zepheira in 2015 and the partnership includes data enrichment services with NoveList® Select, offering additional data access points to patrons searching for reading resources.
Zepheira’s expertise and technologies combined with EBSCO’s resources, library collections and open web resources will bring advanced new capabilities to shared products and services. In the future, Zepheira’s linked data capabilities will have far-ranging applications across information discovery, resource management and stewardship.
Founder and CEO of Zepheira, Eric Miller, says joining EBSCO is a great next step for Zepheira. “Our companies’ missions and cultures are closely aligned. With our combined capabilities and resources, we can more effectively weave the best of what libraries and the web offer each other and deliver increased value to the communities we both care about.”
EBSCO Information Services Vice President, NoveList, Danielle Borasky, says this combination will leverage the power of EBSCO’s depth and breadth of content and large network of partners. “We know how important it is for libraries to be more visible and connected to their communities. We have been working with Zepheira to help libraries increase their reach and expand their data, making their collections available to a wider audience. With this acquisition, we look to continue our mission to make it easy for patrons to find the information they need through their library, anytime, anywhere.”
About EBSCO Information Services
EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) is the leading discovery service provider for libraries worldwide with more than 11,000 discovery customers in over 100 countries. EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) provides each institution with a comprehensive, single search box for its entire collection, offering unparalleled relevance ranking quality and extensive customization. EBSCO is also the preeminent provider of online research content for libraries, including hundreds of research databases, historical archives, point-of-care medical reference, and corporate learning tools serving millions of end users at tens of thousands of institutions. EBSCO is the leading provider of electronic journals & books for libraries, with subscription management for more than 360,000 serials, including more than 57,000 e-journals, as well as online access to more than 1,000,000 e-books. For more information, visit the EBSCO website at: www.ebsco.com. EBSCO Information Services is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., a family owned company since 1944.
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For more information, please contact:
Kathleen McEvoy
Vice President of Communications
(800) 653-2726 ext. 2594
kmcevoy@ebsco.com
