About Us

Surpass began in 1985 as a custom project for an individual library seeking a computer-based card catalog. Originally named Melvil, the product was re-written and renamed a few years later to Surpass, with the goal of “surpassing” the other systems available at the time. Surpass originally ran in DOS and was later ported to Windows.

Many other PC-based automation systems have been on the market in the years since, most of them having either gone out of business or bought-up and closed down by larger companies. Surpass, on the other hand, has enjoyed long-term, consistent development and leadership from its original founder and CEO. This has led to a very strong product offering being built on years of input, feedback, and suggestions from Surpass users worldwide.

Many new capabilities have been added to Surpass and it continues to evolve to meet the growing needs of the various types of libraries using the system. With ease-of-use as the key design consideration with all new features, Surpass has found a home in many types of libraries, some even run by volunteers with little to no experience in library systems.



Unsurpassed Customer Service

Clear pricing and honesty characterize Surpass Sales and Marketing. Our library automation specialists customize each order; we sell customers what they need and want, but no more. Customer satisfaction is our “bottom line.”



Customers in all Libraries

Surpass products provide reliable automation solutions world-wide for libraries of all types and sizes. Happy Surpass users can be found in schools, districts, public libraries, church libraries, hospital family resource centers, museums, and more.



Measuring Success

We measure our success by what we hear from customers. Indeed a high percentage of new customers cite customer referral as a very deciding factor in their purchase. We’re proud that Surpass users know that we truly want to make their jobs easier.



Solid Development

Since its founding in 1985, Surpass Software has enjoyed stable leadership and consistent updates and improvements. As the automation market has demanded increasingly powerful, yet intuitive software, Surpass has responded. The result is software that is easy to use, stable and low-maintenance.

Thanks for listening to the people who use the program on a day-to-day basis. It has been a pleasure working with your product. Ramona Gay

Villa Rica Primary

I would highly recommend the Surpass System to any library…It is an excellent product with great support and features for a reasonable price. It’s an awesome system from a great company. Robert S. Schmalback, Jr.

Norristown Area High School