Swiss Library Service Platform (SLSP)

What Swiss Library Service Platform (SLSP) does

Swiss Library Service Platform (SLSP) is a non-profit service company (AG) headquartered in the Canton of Zurich that operates as the central infrastructure provider for Swiss academic and patrimonial libraries. SLSP delivers and operates swisscovery, the national discovery and resource-sharing platform, on top of the Ex Libris Alma library services platform and Primo VE discovery layer. Approximately 500 Swiss libraries are connected to the platform, sharing bibliographic metadata, identity/authentication, and inter-library loan workflows.

The company's product portfolio centers on swisscovery, which provides unified search across the holdings of all member libraries, integrated resource sharing (including the SLSP Physical Books Service), digital lending, and tools such as SLSPdedup for record deduplication and ReadMetrics (pilot) for usage analytics. Underlying technology is anchored by Ex Libris Alma and Primo VE, with SLSP providing national-level configuration, integration, and operational services. Adjacent services include consortium license management for CSAL on behalf of Swiss libraries, and the new PubliCH initiative in institutional publishing.

SLSP's business model is membership-based: Swiss academic and patrimonial libraries pay an annual flat-rate contribution scaled by FTE or Named User sizing, with additional optional services generating supplementary revenue. The company is governed as a non-profit AG whose shareholders are its member institutions, which structurally aligns SLSP's incentives with its library constituency rather than with external investors.

Name

Swiss Library Service Platform (SLSP)

Legal name

SLSP Swiss Library Service Platform AG

Website

https://slsp.ch

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Swiss Library Service Platform (SLSP) is a non-profit that operates swisscovery, the national discovery and resource-sharing platform built on Ex Libris Alma and Primo VE for ~500 Swiss academic and patrimonial libraries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Library Management Platform

NAICS

Libraries and Archives (51921), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518)

SIC

Services-Business Services, Nec (7389), Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation (7374)

akta.pro primary industry

Interlibrary Loan (ILL) & Resource Sharing Operations (EDAEAGAK)

akta.pro secondary industry

Library Collections & Cataloging Services (Acquisitions, Metadata, Circulation) (EDAEAGAE)

Keywords

• Library service platform
• Academic library consortium
• Electronic resource licensing
• Discovery and metadata services
• Document delivery services

Headquarters

HQ city

Zürich

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Others, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Annual flat-rate fees from member libraries: SLSP charges an annual flat rate to all member libraries. Costs are calculated based on library size (FTE count) and number of Named Users (professional user accounts in Alma). The non-profit principle is anchored in the statutes; surpluses are refunded or offset against the following year's flat rate. This is the primary revenue stream.
2. Optional services (bookable add-ons): Libraries can subscribe to optional paid services beyond the basic package, including data migration/integration projects, SLSP-Courier usage fees (quarterly per courier delivery), custom statistics/reports, local view customisation, external data source integration, API support, CDI additional keys, Premium Sandbox subscriptions, SLSKey, SLSPStorage, SLSPWeb-Selfcheck, and more. Billed per project or per time/materials.
3. Individual custom services: Custom one-time services such as data analyses, consulting, or data cleaning, billed on a time and materials basis with a detailed quote provided upfront.
4. SLSP-Courier fees: Fees for the courier delivery service for physical media, charged quarterly per the cost tables valid at the time of use.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

SLSP operates swisscovery, the national library service platform that pools scientific information from approximately 500 Swiss libraries into a single multilingual discovery interface built on Ex Libris Alma and Primo VE. It provides basic services (discovery, resource management, metadata management, centralised user administration, training, and consortium invoicing) to member libraries via an annual flat-rate subscription, and sells optional add-on services such as SLSP-Courier, SLSKey authentication, SLSPStorage, Rapido document delivery, and custom integrations. SLSP also manages the Consortium of Swiss Academic Libraries (CSAL), which negotiates electronic resource licences on behalf of Swiss academic institutions.

Product overview

SLSP operates swisscovery, a national library platform built on Ex Libris Alma (library management) and Primo VE (discovery interface) by Clarivate. The platform serves approximately 500 Swiss academic and research libraries, providing unified access to scientific information. Core services include discovery search, resource management, metadata management, and electronic resource management. Optional services include SLSP-Courier (automated courier via 7DM CloudApp), SLSKey (SWITCH edu-ID authentication), Rapido (document delivery), SLSPStorage (ExLibris cloud storage), SLSP Bibliographies, SLSP Web-Selfcheck, and various customization options. SLSPhere and SLSP Support (Atlassian-based) provide staff collaboration and support tools. Current AI initiatives include SLSPdedup (deduplication) and ReadMetrics (usage analytics pilot).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• swisscovery: National library platform that pools scientific information from 500 libraries in Switzerland
• SLSPhere
• SLSP Support
• SLSP Courier
• SLSKey
• SLSP-Courier

Products and services

• swisscovery National library discovery and management platform that pools scientific information from approximately 500 Swiss libraries into a single multilingual search interface, providing unified access to physical and digital academic resources. Built on Ex Libris Alma (library management) and Primo VE (discovery).
• SLSP-Courier

Quantifiable outcome

• Around 470 libraries went live on swisscovery on 07.12.2020, growing to ~500 currently connected libraries.
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

AI capability4 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core, major, strategic and supporting.

• Consortium of Swiss Academic Libraries (CSAL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSLSP manages the consortium office of the Consortium of Swiss Academic Libraries, which acquires licences for scientific resources (electronic journals, eBooks, databases) and supports the national open access strategy. The consortium is instrumental in guaranteeing the quality and competitiveness of Switzerland as a university and research hub.
• 7DM (courier service platform)coreTechnology or Integration7DM is the courier service platform for physical media delivery between Swiss libraries. SLSP developed a CloudApp to automate data transfer between Alma and 7DM, reducing manual data entry errors and courier delivery errors. 7DM participated in testing and provided technical requirements.
• Renouvaud Library Network (canton Vaud)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Renouvaud network (canton Vaud) is connected to SLSP-Courier and can lend media cross-institutionally via swisscovery. Libraries from Renouvaud participated in testing the 7DM CloudApp. SLSP and Renouvaud are moving closer together, with cross-library courier integration completed in 2022.
• Alexandria Library NetworkmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Alexandria Network (15 libraries) successfully migrated to swisscovery in April 2022, bringing the total to approximately 490 affiliated libraries.
• Aargau Library NetworkmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Aargau Library Network joined swisscovery in 2023, expanding SLSP's network in the German-speaking region of Switzerland.
• Ex Libris (Clarivate) — Alma & Primo VEcoreTechnology or IntegrationEx Libris (now part of Clarivate) is the system provider for Alma (library management system) and Primo VE (discovery interface), which form the technological foundation of swisscovery. SLSP is the Single Point of Contact between Ex Libris and member libraries. The Master Service Agreement governs use of Premium Sandboxes and system integration.
• Cooperative Storage Library Switzerland (Kooperative Speicherbibliothek Schweiz)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSLSP provides specific interfaces, scripts, and workflows to connect the Cooperative Storage Library Switzerland to swisscovery, ensuring access to storage library services within the discovery platform. This connection is maintained as an optional service. SLSP and the Cooperative Storage Library agreed on a strategic partnership in April 2026.
• ReadMetrics (open source usage analytics suite — developed by Couperin and Inist-CNRS)strategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerSLSP launched a joint pilot project with CSAL, EPFL, UNIGE, Couperin consortium (France), and Inist-CNRS (France) to evaluate ReadMetrics — an open-source software suite developed by Couperin and Inist-CNRS for collecting, enriching, processing, and visualising e-resource usage data. The pilot runs through 2026, testing ReadMetrics in real library contexts.
• PubliCH Project Partners (University of Basel, University of Bern, University of Fribourg, University of Zurich)strategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerSLSP is the lead institution for PubliCH, a national project on institutional publishing in Switzerland, funded under Open Science II programme by swissuniversities. Project partners include University of Basel, University of Bern, University of Fribourg, and University of Zurich. The project aims to develop practical foundations and strategic decision-making tools for a coordinated national approach to institutional publishing.
• swissuniversitiesstrategicStrategic or Co-development Partnerswissuniversities co-financed the SLSP project in 2015 under the P-5 programme and mandated SLSP as the lead institution for the PubliCH project under the Open Science II programme. swissuniversities represents the Swiss higher education institutions and is a key institutional backer.
• SWITCH (Swiss academic network)supportingTechnology or IntegrationSWITCH provides the SWITCH edu-ID authentication infrastructure used by SLSKey to enable activated users to access licensed electronic resources. SLSP initially operated from Switch's premises at Werdstrasse 2 in Zurich.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves16 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Others

• Deutsche Nationalbibliothek: German national library operating national bibliographic infrastructure and metadata services. Comparable to SLSP's role in Swiss national library services, though serving as a national library rather than a shared discovery platform operator.
• SWITCH (Switzerland): Swiss non-profit operating the academic network and edu-ID identity federation used by SLSP. Not a direct peer but a closely related Swiss national academic infrastructure provider and strategic technology partner.

Direct peers

• JISC (UK): UK non-profit providing digital, network, and library services to higher education and research institutions. Comparable as a national academic infrastructure consortium offering shared library platforms and content licensing on a member-funded basis.
• OCLC: Global library cooperative that provides shared technology services, cataloging, and resource sharing (WorldCat) to member libraries. Directly comparable to SLSP as a non-profit consortial platform operator pooling library resources, though operating at a global rather than national scale.
• SURF (Netherlands): Dutch cooperative for ICT in education and research that operates shared library, identity, and research infrastructure services for Dutch academic institutions. Closely comparable to SLSP as a national academic library/research consortium service provider with similar governance and member-funded model.
• Consortium Couperin (France): French consortium of academic libraries negotiating electronic resource licenses and developing shared infrastructure (including ReadMetrics). Comparable as a national library consortium with similar mission and member-funded model.

Emerging players

• OpenAIRE: European open science infrastructure supporting open access, research data, and CRIS systems. Partial overlap with SLSP's PubliCH (institutional publishing) initiative, though operating at a pan-European scale.

Broad incumbents

• Ex Libris (Clarivate): Vendor of the Alma library management system and Primo VE discovery platform that SLSP builds on. Comparable as a provider of shared library infrastructure serving multiple national consortia; not a peer in the consortial services dimension but a closely related incumbent in the underlying technology stack.
• EBSCO Information Services: Global provider of library research databases, eBooks, and discovery services to academic libraries. Comparable as a library services provider, though operating as a commercial vendor rather than a member-funded consortium.

Regional players

• hbz (Hochschulbibliothekszentrum NRW): German library service center operating shared library infrastructure for North Rhine-Westphalia academic libraries on a member-funded basis. Comparable operational model to SLSP but serving a regional (state-level) German market rather than a national Swiss market.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCZwhZarKqJ_vBohaJz4avJA
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/swisslibraryserviceplatform

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Swiss Library Service Platform (SLSP)