Ernest B. Ingles
Hall of Fame Inductee 1996
1996 Information Innovator of the Year
back to Hall
of Fame
As Associate Vice-President (Learning Systems) at the University
of Alberta, Ernie Ingles has directed technological innovations that
are having a profound effect on the development of Canadaâs libraries
in the Information Age. Most recently, he oversaw the creation of a
system for interlibrary loans that automates the ordering and delivery
of documents using the World Wide Web. This system, called Relais, overcomes
major problems faced by cash-strapped librarians in trying to meet demand
for research documents using paper-based processes. More significantly,
it points the way to the digital library of the future by creating a
new model for the enabling infrastructure.
"The model," Ingles says, "is radical - to move the library from a
document location system and self-serve document warehouse to an active
on-demand document supply service."
Ingles' model is being copied in other parts of Canada and North America
as a boon to the efficiency of libraries as well as research and educational
institutions. It is only the latest in a series of initiatives that
Ingles has spearheaded in an outstanding 22-year career as a librarian.
Since joining the University of Alberta in 1990, Ingles has gained
prominence for his strategic and technology planning, including development
of the NEOS Consortium, the Health Knowledge Network and the Book and
Record Depository, the first remote storage and document supply facility
among Canadian universities. The university has also been unique among
academic institutions for its technology outsourcing initiatives.
Previously, while University Librarian at the University of Regina
from 1984 to 1990, Ingles founded the RegLIN consortium, a group of
libraries working together to share an automated library system. He
was previously Founding Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer
of the Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions, a non-profit
corporation dedicated to preserving and distributing Canadian historic
and cultural documents through the use of imaging systems.
A Calgarian by birth, Ingles began his career in the 1970's with the
University of Calgary and the University of British Columbia. He has
won numerous awards as a librarian, is a past president of the Canadian
Library Association and has served on more than 90 professional, association
and community committees. |