VTLS Introduces Chamo, a New Social OPAC with Drupal Support

Blacksburg, VA - VTLS is proud to announce its new social OPAC, Chamo [kámmō], a groundbreaking addition to VTLS’ software offerings.

“In developing Chamo, one goal was to create a scalable OPAC that would support thousands of simultaneous users and still provide the capabilities and ease of use that people expect,” said Vinod Chachra, President and CEO of VTLS Inc. “Chamo represents a departure from traditional client-server architecture in that it connects directly to the Oracle database. It also acts as a Drupal module, allowing sites to take advantage of Drupal’s themes and its content management capabilities.”

Chamo boasts numerous features that make it attractive to novice and expert OPAC users alike. The software lets users discover materials quickly, using familiar search methods such as Quick Search and faceted result links. Users can know immediately whether materials are available and at which location and can place requests from the very first result screen. Relevancy ranking and various sorts are supported. Refining a search is as easy as picking a facet from a list or typing additional terms in the search box and letting Chamo add them to the original search string. Advanced searches give users the advantage of applying multiple filters simultaneously.

Personalized searches and search results are also hallmarks of Chamo. Users can add personal comments using reviews, ratings, and social tagging. RSS feeds inform patrons of newly added materials. Users can create multiple lists and then use these lists to print, e-mail, place holds, or request materials from the stacks. In addition, users can save their favorite search, which Chamo will remember and will execute automatically when users sign back on.

For a demonstration of Chamo via the web, please contact VTLS at info@vtls.com, 540.557.1200, or visit VTLS at ALA, booth #2239.