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With over 34,000 members and fellows across the globe, the Royal College of Physicians needed a library management system with a genuinely flexible OPAC, strong user controls, and reliable UK-based support. Soutron replaced a legacy system that had become difficult to administer and delivered all three.
The RCP’s previous library system offered poor OPAC functionality, limited user controls, and no integrated Inter Library Loans capability. After evaluating the market including open source alternatives, Soutron was selected for its flexible database, granular security controls, and the quality of its response to the RCP’s expression of interest. The result was a platform the library team has used and built on continuously since 2011.
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is the leading professional body for physicians in the UK and internationally, with over 34,000 members and fellows across the globe.
Physicians diagnose and treat illness, and they promote, maintain and restore health. The RCP’s vision is to provide the best possible health and healthcare for everyone.
“The OPAC is truly flexible and the ability to create saved searches is being increasingly used.”
Karen Reid
Library Manager
The user controls, administration features were not as user friendly as hoped and offered little or no functionality and control for the OPAC.
The existing solution was more of a catalog and not a great LMS as a whole. The RCP was also looking to replace its previous standalone Inter Library Loans solution. It was clearly time for change.
Delivering results for professional membership body / medical library based organizations like The Royal College of Physicians (RCP). Talk to our team
After looking at the marketplace for LMS vendors, Soutron were selected as the features and response to the RCP’s expression of interest document published simply stood out from the rest.
Open Source solutions were even considered at one point, but having the comfort of a fully supported and maintained flexible database solution from Soutron was preferred.
Granular user and security controls for users, the ability to upload historic media files and the flexibility of the portal (OPAC) have really made a difference to how the RCP use Soutron on a daily basis. Even the Inter Library Loans (CLIO) software Soutron provided had some surprise features. Karen Reid, RCP Library Manager says, “we love the automatic lookup for the BMA and connectivity features”.
On the Soutron LMS. Karen adds “The OPAC is truly flexible and the ability to create saved searches is being increasingly used. The ability to link out to e-journals is also a very important feature for us.”
The Royal College of Physicians has been using Soutron since 2011. Karen has found the support and tech team’s ability to speak in ‘plain English’ at Soutron a blessing. She says “It has been great having UK based technical support with a great ‘can-do’ attitude at Soutron should they need assistance when they need it”.
Karen also highlighted another feature of the software that can sometimes be overlooked, the upgrades process. With Soutron any customizations added are maintained after each and every upgrade is applied. Karen says “with previous LMS solutions we have been hit with extra charges to re-apply custom features that were lost after each major upgrade. This has not been the case with Soutron”.
Recalling the implementation back in 2011 she also found the training excellent. Karen says “Soutron’s training program was excellent and timed it so it worked around us, not around them.”
To learn more about the Royal College of Physicians, visit their website:
www.rcplondon.ac.uk
To find out how you can migrate to a fast, secure, cloud-based information management system to support your organization, book a 20 minute discovery call with us today, see below.
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The first step is to learn more. Here's how we can answer your questions:
Yes. Soutron has replaced legacy LMS solutions for professional membership bodies including the Royal College of Physicians. The RCP selected Soutron after evaluating the full market, including open source alternatives, specifically for its flexible database, granular user controls, and quality of support.
Yes. Soutron provides Clio Inter Library Loans software as part of its platform. The RCP replaced a separate standalone ILL solution with Soutron's integrated Clio module, gaining automatic BMA lookup and British Library connectivity within the same system.
Yes. Soutron maintains all customizations through every upgrade as standard. The Royal College of Physicians specifically highlighted this as a key advantage over previous LMS solutions, where custom features were lost after major upgrades and had to be reapplied at additional cost.
Yes. Soutron's OPAC includes saved search functionality and the ability to link out to e-journals directly from catalog records. RCP Library Manager Karen Reid noted that saved searches are increasingly used by members, and that e-journal linking is a very important feature for the college's research and clinical workflow.
