Interviewing LMS on Library Automation Systems

One thing that all school libraries have in common is their need for a library automation system. Not only useful as an organizational tool for librarians and a “Table of Contents” for patrons searching for informational and recreational materials, a good system will serve as a portal for students allowing them access to resources beyond their library’s four walls, their district schools, and into the world wide web. The needs of each individual school are different as are the needs of their student population. Certain criteria should be considered when choosing a library automation system for your school. Comparing systems and accepting feedback from product sales representatives along with customers currently using the system will help you make an informed decision that will benefit school staff as well as students.

Interview One- Sirsi/Dynix User

Gary Metzenbacher
Library Media Specialist
East High School
Columbus, OH

Question: What system do you use?
Answer: SIRSI/Dynix

Question: What is the support like? How available and helpful are they?
Answer: Fairly helpful. Our downtime is very short and outages are few and far between.

Question: Do you have one server between many schools?
Answer: "Our" server actually takes care of numerous school systems. We don't actually own a server for library automation but we utilize SIRSI which is a major provider. Our IT people could not possibly handle library automation. That requires some background in library services and it's much better for our district to simply contract with someone who knows what they're doing for that. The downside is that when the main server is down everyone in the state on SIRSI is down. Downtime, however is very, very seldom and very, very short.

Question: Can you search other libraries?
Answer: We can search the libraries of all the Ohio schools using SIRSI so that gives us all of Columbus City Schools (140+ buildings) and Southwestern City Schools (20+ buildings) and quite a few school districts and private schools around the state.

Question: Is the search easy (ours need to be exact titles, or search comes up empty)
Answer: Easy search: keyword search, title search, author search, subject search. The default is keyword and you can specify a particular building/library as well if you want. It is fairly user intuitive and simple to use.

Question: How about updates and upgrades?
Answer: Updates and upgrades are all done at the main SIRSI Ohio center in Lima. The main hiccups would be with our own district IT people who aren't always on top of their game if you get my meaning. For the most part, updates are transparent and seldom affect users EXCEPT for major revisions which require us to have new training, which is provided by SIRSI. We've had 2 major revisions in the 6 or 7 years we've been using the system. Not bad for such a big setup.

Question: Do you have any other comments, positive or negative?
Answer: As to negatives; since SIRSI was originally designed as a public library system there are a few quirks that you have to work-around as a school library. They are willing to accommodate SOME requests to adjust the setup for your building/district but they take a while before they actually grant such accommodations and requests. Inventory could be a lot simpler than the multi-step process they designed but I've managed to get my inventory done by eliminating some of those steps but you have to pay careful attention when you do that or you could miss something and not be able to figure out where you did.

Question: Do you think this is the right system for your school?
Answer: I'm not sure I would say our system is the best one for our school but every system has its positive aspects as well as its faults. It really depends on what the users are comfortable with and what the costs over the long term will be. Costs are not always monetary and one needs to make sure they consider the user frustration or acceptance as a very real cost to any system you implement or consider. Additionally you need to consider long-term customer support. Is the system reliable and will there be technical support over time or will it get orphaned and leave you with problems? We use our system and like some things about it but dislike some things as well. I don't care for the inventory module because it is too labor intensive. It was easier (and quicker) with the shelflist cards and a box. I do like, however, that I can search all of our buildings and some others as well. The interlibrary loan module still relies on our personal contacts via phone or email but it works for us. It would be more convenient to make the request electronically but we're not there yet.


Interview Two- InfoCentre User

Deborah Caudill
Library Media Specialist
FallBrook Elementary School
Leominster, MA 01453

Question: What system do you use?
Answer: InfoCentre

Question: What is the support like? How available and helpful are they?
Answer: When Infocentre was first introduced into our district schools, it was a product of Winnebago, a company later bought by Sagebrush. As far as support, I cannot give an honest report because I was not using the system during that time. Since then, Sagebrush has been bought by Follett and so Infocentre support comes from them. Follett has stated that they will continue to support InfoCentre users and keep them updated with the latest improvements, updates, and upgrades. Our library has been a customer of Follett in the past and we have been extremely satisfied with their support and speed at responding to our questions or concerns. I have no reason to believe that their support of InfoCentre and our district as a client would be any different or of any lesser quality.

Question: Do you have one server between many schools?
Answer: We have one server to support all the schools in our district. The server is housed at one of our middle schools and is serviced by our district’s IT staff that was trained by Sagebrush to manage the system. When our server is down, it affects all schools but because it’s within our district, downtime is limited.

Question: Can you search other libraries?
Answer: Besides our own catalog, we can search those of all other schools within our district. This can be done from our library computers, all classroom and teacher computers, and from students’ homes. This is a great feature in that parents can also access our library catalog to search for books for student projects or personal interest.

Question: Is the search easy?
Answer: The simple search can be done by keyword, title, author, or subject and Infocentre also offers an advanced search which makes it easier to do a Bibliography list for teachers or students searching for books on a specific subject. Another great feature is the visual search allowing younger, slow readers and also the many ELL students in our school to search by topic pictures instead of words.

Question: How about updates and upgrades?
Answer: Because updates and all upgrades are performed from Follett’s host website, they are fast and easy and ensure the most advanced technology for our library. When we are ready to upgrade, Follett’s InfoCentre 2.0, a newer version, is available for download from their site.

Question: Do you have any other comments, positive or negative?
Answer: There are a lot of positives. For instance, InfoCentre includes features previously considered add-ons such as: an integrated Z39.50 server; the Visual Search interface; the WebServer component to deliver the Web Catalog interface; multiuser licensing; the ability to load user data into InfoCentre from other databases. The search interface can be configured to display results from one or more libraries in the district. This makes it a good fit for our schools.

Question: So it sonds like you wouldn't replace InfoCentre?
Answer: With budget cuts and frozen spending, an upgrade is not in the immediate future. With a system that works for us and a company like Follett backing us and ready to support upgrades when we are ready, InfoCentre would be my choice for our library’s OPAC.