The GIL Universal Catalog was a requirement of the USG’s Integrated Library Loan RFP that was published in 1998. The successful vendor was Endeavor Information Systems, Inc. (whach was later acquired by Ex Libris in 2006). Endeavor’s headquarters wwas in Des Plaines, IL., and their ILS was called Voyager. (After being acquired by Ex Libris, the Voyager ILS continued to be developed and supported by Ex Libris with support remaining in Des Plaines, IL.) To fulfill the RFP, Endeavor had to develop, in cooperation with the University System of Georgia, a Universal Catalog containing bibliographic records held in the GIL consortium Libraries. In addition, real-time status information was to be retrieved from the individual Voyager databases and displayed in the Universal Catalog. Finally, the Universal Catalog was to be the mechanism through which Universal Borrowing (now know as GIL Express) for USG patrons would be processed.
Endeavor met the criteria specified in the RFP and the GIL Libraries now have a very comprehensive Universal Catalog. The Universal Catalog went into production in 2003. It represents an important resource sharing tool among the USG Libraries and their patrons.
