Convey Systems' Web-Conferencing Utility Extends Library Services Beyond Physical Walls.

Business Editors, High Tech Writers

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 5, 2001

OnDemand Makes Reference Desk Services

Available Live To University Students

Convey Systems, interactive Web-based solutions innovator, announced today the implementation of the OnDemand Instant Web-Conferencing(TM) utility as the key enabling technology of the Pace University Library's Virtual Reference Service.

The Pace University Library recognizes that today's university students require and desire non-traditional, virtual services, in addition to traditional, physical library facilities and services. Convey's solution enables the Pace University Library to provide these dynamic services via its Web site. Pace's implementation of the OnDemand(TM) Web-based solution positions it as a groundbreaker in the use of library reference technology.

After comparing OnDemand with other solutions, Steven Feyl, Head of Research and Information Services for Pace University's Westchester campus, was most impressed with the possibilities opened up by Convey's utility. Using voice over IP, application share, co-browsing and text chat, the Pace University Library can extend its services beyond the buildings' physical limitations.

From any page within the Pace University Library's Web site, visitors can immediately contact a Librarian for assistance. The initial implementation is being used by a group of five Librarians in one of Pace's three participating libraries. Summer was a time of acclimation, allowing Librarians to become familiar with the utility's features. This fall, students are slowly being introduced to the service in stages so that they have a period of acclimation as well.

"The possibilities that Convey's software offers are far beyond other chat tools we tried," Feyl comments. "We can take advantage of voice, application share, co-browse and text chat immediately with OnDemand. We can easily flip the switch to add video in the future. It is labor-intensive to do a reference interview with just chat. A normal reference interaction that takes 15-20 minutes using just text chat, may only take 30 seconds to a minute when you can talk to each other. Application share allows us to really share things like subscription databases without losing the other person, as happens often with simple URL page pushing."

The Pace University Library's Virtual Reference Service is currently being offered Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 2:00 until 4:30 p.m. By handing out flyers for specific events and demonstrating the new services to its library consortium, Westchester Academic Library Directors Organization (WALDO), Feyl hopes word of Pace's leading edge Virtual Reference Services will spread across the Pace campuses and to other universities within WALDO. Distance education classes at Pace are currently being targeted to begin using OnDemand which will illustrate the value of evening service hours, the opportunities for distance education, and provide the Library staff with valuable information for its services roll out.

The Library has set aggressive goals for early 2002 to double the group of five participating Reference Librarians, to incorporate the remaining Pace University Library campuses, expand service to five days a week, increase hours to include evenings, and to aggressively market the service to a student population of approximately 10,000. A role-playing model is in place for training Librarians, and a manual is in development for Pace's Virtual Reference Services to provide them with procedures and policies as they roll out their services.

Mike Sibley, CEO of Convey Systems said, "The use of the OnDemand utility by a student-centered institution such as Pace University Library is terrific. It is gratifying for a solutions provider to provide technology that enables Librarians to be the drivers who only take control of the students' desktops as needed, allowing the students to become self-sufficient learners."

Feyl adds, "We have a work in progress that we are excited about. With OnDemand, our Chat Reference Services are extended, creating a wall-less library where librarian expertise is available even to those who choose not to visit the library building. Implementing the OnDemand utility in a Virtual Reference Service extends the present remote access to databases and the way we offer general services to our students in a way that we would have never imagined just a year ago."

The Pace University Library, part of Pace University, consists of geographically dispersed campus-based operations in Lower Manhattan and Westchester County, which are functionally interdependent and centrally administered through the Office of the University Librarian.

About Convey Systems, Inc.

Charlotte-based Convey Systems (www.conveysystems.com) provides interactive Web-based technology that changes the way businesses communicate with customers, suppliers, partners and prospective clients. Convey Systems accomplishes the personalization of Internet communications through video, voice over IP, text chat, co-browse and application share capabilities in a seamless, Web-based utility that builds and strengthens business relationships.

(R) 2001 Convey Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. All other product, brand, service or company names mentioned herein are claimed as trademarks or registered trademarks by their respective companies.