I have been working with Sagebrush (InfoCenter) on Kansas issues,
specifically the NCIP (self-service circ.) and the SIP2 Interlibrary loan
protocols. When I brought up the issues from the HIT below, it seems like
most of the issues have been addressed in the current version, i.e. batch
posting, lost/withdrawn/damaged listing etc. The rep is going to respond
to all of the issues to me soon. I'll post more information as I get it.
Harry Willems, consultant
SEKLS
At 08:03 AM 1/27/2006, you wrote:
>Good morning, LM_NETter's~
>
>Here are the responses I received about Info Centre. We will have the demo
>Feb 10 and then I might have a better picture of the product. I think there
>were as many requests for a HIT as there were those who had experience with
>it. A lot of us have questions about it. Thanks to everyone to responded!
>
>
>
>We used Athena for years. Sagebrush quit supporting it, so we went with
>InfoCentre to keep the support. It is the "best " of all of their
>automation programs. It takes some getting used to, like most new things.
>I haven't had any trouble with it. We use it in the middle school and
>elementary school also. I would say go for it, keep an open mind, go
>thorough the tutorial on the website, and get all of the training they
>offer. Good luck.
>
>
>
>
>
>Do you currently have Athena or Athena Webserver? We currently have these.
>We had Molli before it became ATHENA. Sagebrush says while they aren't going
>to upgrade ATHENA anymore, they will support it. My dilemma is only our
>H.S. has Webserver. Our Middle School has ATHENA so either we sink $ 995 to
>upgrade the Middle School to WEBSERVER in order to get the catalog online,
>or we upgrade to INFOCENTRE for $ 995 which Sagebrush representatives say
>is the next generation to ATHENA. And then for each of our elementary
>schools that don't have any it will be $4995. each.
>
>
>
> It sounds expensive overall but it looks good with access to the
>cataloging records and the combining of all the features into one. We are
>also looking at adding it to each of our elementary schools but our district
>is looking at funding 1 per year. So it may be a long while.
>
>
>
>
>
>We have been using InfoCentre for over a month. We had previously used
>Spectrum on Macs and had to upgrade because our computers are now OSX. We
>just did the upgrade to InfoCentre version 2.0 today. There were several
>items which were cumbersome in the earlier version. Most appear to be fixed
>in this version. We are relatively happy with the program although the
>manuals and instructions are not very well done. If I can answer specific
>questions, please let me know.
>
>
>
>
>
>Our district just purchased InfoCentre this year. We had been using Athena.
>It's not perfect, but it's a lot more user-friendly than Athena. I didn't
>have to teach the kids how to use the program. It's pretty intuitive. It is
>a bit cumbersome when adding copies (you can't add a batch of books--you
>have to add them one at a time). And you can only list books that you're
>taking out of circulation as "Lost"--you can't list it as "Withdrawn",
>"Damaged" or "Discarded." Also, you can't "forgive" fines. You have to list
>them as "paid", even if you're just forgiving them. Other than that, it's
>really easy to import Marc records, read records, add entries in subject or
>title, etc.
>
>
>
>
>
>We have purchased it and installed it, but have not used it yet as there was
>much discussion about what it did not have. There has been an update in
>December that addressed many concerns, but I think there are probably still
>more things that need to be fixed. I saw it demonstrated and think it will
>be a great program when all the bugs are worked out. Meanwhile, for the
>rest of this year, I will use Spectrum which I have been using since 1991
>(starting with the DOS version) I will probably begin using it next fall.
>
>
>
>
>
>I recently opened a brand new High school library with Infocentre, and quite
>honestly they still have some bugs to work out.
>
>Previously, I had used Athena and liked it, however they told me Infocentre
>would eventually replace it or something like that.
>
>Since September they have had two patches to "fix" problems in the program,
>and I'm sure there will be plenty more to come.
>
>When I ask them about features that were in Athena , and are not in
>InfoCentre they tell me they are considering adding them in...i.e.. the
>ability to copy and paste when you are cataloging, the ability to adjust
>fines or forgive them, and there's not a lot of latitude on printing your
>spine labels, only a few choices.
>
>
>
>
>
>Anne Busch
>Librarian
>Pleasant Hill High School
>Pleasant Hill, MO 64080
>abusch@pleasanthillschools.com
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------
Harry Willems, Consultant Asst. Dir. 620.365.5136
Southeast Kansas Library System 620.365.5137 (fax)
Iola, KS 66749 hwillems@sekls.org
42.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
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