Greetings, CORAL Community,
This past spring, the CORAL Steering Committee conducted a survey to gather insights into how libraries are using the CORAL Electronic Resource Management (ERM) system. We sincerely thank everyone who took the time to share their experiences, challenges, and suggestions—your feedback is invaluable.
CORAL 2025.04 Release
This Spring we were excited to announce the release of CORAL version 2025.04! This release brings the platform up to current accessibility standards, featuring a more streamlined and inclusive interface that ensures a better experience for all users.
This milestone would not have been possible without the outstanding support of the team at the Equinox Open Library Initiative. Their commitment to accessibility has played a key role in these improvements.
2025 CORAL Survey
Survey Purpose
The CORAL Committee views the survey as a valuable tool for identifying key areas for improvement. The committee is made up of volunteer developers and librarians who dedicate their time to enhancing the product. Due to limited resources, the survey results are used to help prioritize the development roadmap. One recurring theme we hear from librarians is the need for further improvements to the Usage Statistics module. If you have an interest in this area—or any part of CORAL development—we invite you to get involved. Email is at coral.steering@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
Survey Highlights
Most Utilized Module
Respondents reported using the Resources module as part of their ERM workflows. It remains the cornerstone of CORAL usage across institutions.
User Comments
- “We use CORAL to manage the workflow of purchasing new resources and cancelling subscriptions.”
- “We use CORAL for maintaining vendor resources, contact information, and storing license agreements. It’s not the full suite of functionality, but it serves our needs well.”
- “I’m currently configuring CORAL for evaluation. I’m comparing features in Alma, CORAL, and FOLIO ahead of a possible migration.”
Common Challenges Reported
- Email Configuration: Issues with sending and receiving emails via CORAL.
- Usage Statistics Module:
- Not syncing with COUNTER reports.
- Slow performance when loading data/reports.
- Lacks flexibility for custom report generation.
- No integration with Resources for cost analysis.
- Data Export Limitations:
- Inability to cleanly export entered data—especially notes (Resources module) and contact/account info (Organizations module)—for use in other systems or migrations.
Enhancement Requests
- Batch delete functionality in the Resources module.
- Integration between Usage and Resources for cost analysis.
- Improved export/import tools for interoperability with other platforms.
What Users Value Most in an ERM
- Integration with Knowledge Bases (KBs) and ILS platforms
- Accessibility
- Security
- Performance
- Usage Reporting
Roadmap and Ongoing Development
Survey feedback is already shaping our development roadmap! The CORAL Steering Committee has begun small and regular hotfixes to address the existing issues reported in our most-used modules, in addition to issues brought up in the comments of our survey. We have also decided to focus our major October and April releases on specific modules, prioritizing the most-used modules for refactoring and feature development. The 2025.10 release will focus on the Installer, laying the groundwork for future changes, while the 2026.04 release is expected to focus on the feedback and ideas we received for the Resources module.
To track progress on feature development, bug fixes, and what’s coming next, visit:
Usage Statistics Module Announcement
Due to our team’s limited development resources, we are pausing further development of the Usage Statistics module. Existing functionality will remain available, but no new features or enhancements are planned at this time. The module continues to support COUNTER 5 and we hope to bring support for COUNTER 5.1 in the future.
We recognize the value this module provides to the community, and we welcome contributions. If you are a developer interested in helping to maintain or enhance this module of the ERM, please reach out to the team—we’d love to collaborate.
For inquiries or to express interest, our contact information is at https://coral-erm.org.
Get Involved
Feedback and contributions are always welcome! If you have thoughts, ideas, or development interest please visit the CORAL ERM GitHub repository or subscribe to the CORAL Slack channel. New subscribers can join by filling out this form.
Thank you for your continued support!
— The CORAL Steering Committee