Y'all are great! I swear, within 20 minutes of my original post/screed about
Follett, I about 10 hits. Here's the original:
I use Follett, with all records kept on our school server. Frequently, when doing
overdues, I will get the information that a student has overdue materials, but when
I check the shelves and/or my receipt book, will find that the material has been
returned and any fine owed paid. in other words, the overdue or the fine owed
reappear like malicious little ghosts on my records.
Is this a wide-spread problem? Even more, is there a solution? Follett tech support
claims the problem is with our server. My tech guru's reply to that is usually
unprintable.
Here are some of the replies:
We are experiencing the same problem, the same response from Follett, and the same
unprintable replies from our tech department. The problems we are experiencing are
even more wide-spread, including incorrect results being displayed in patron and
item searches. Are you on a virtual server? We are also experiencing problems
with keyword index rebuilding; this doesn't seem to solve the problem of only being
able to find items by barcode or ISBN number.
***
I have seen that problem over and over with Follett over the past 14
years that I have used Circ / Cat in two different locations. I have
had the experience of checking the book in myself, and a minute or two
later checking on it and finding that it had not been checked in when I
know it was done.
It's not your server, it's the program.
***
Interesting, My server has a similar problem. Hmmm. Fines haven't been a problem
because we don't collect them for overdues but occasionally books will resurface on
the shelves miraculously and in the correct place, something I know my students
aren't able to do. I keep thinking it's my fault and perhaps sometimes it is and
perhaps sometimes it might not be (:^)
***
I have been having the same problem, more so lately it seems. I'm
switching to Destiny this summer, so hopefully the problem goes away.
***
We have been using the Destiny version now for several years, but prior to that-
most definitely it was a problem!
It was blamed on items not being scanned in properly and several other things. I
personally checkin and then out a little boy's books. He walked down the hall,
changed his mind and came back. Guess what had happened meanwhile!!
***
We use Follett Circ+ here and I always have students who come in saying they either
never checked out the book or they have returned it. I don't know why it
happens...but my guess is database bugs. Follett tech support is a joke. Since
January of this year my server has been throwing error after error. (Usually when I
am not in the building and can't fix it.) Tech support says the problem is power
surges/spikes, but no other servers are going down and our logs do not indicate any
such problems. Go figure...
***
I have never had that problem with fines but it happens all the time with overdue
materials. I think that my assistant occasionally gets in too big of a hurry and
scans too rapidly and the system does not have a chance to "process" the
checking-in of a book. If you find a better answer, please let me know! (OK, I'll
admit I've done this, too. But for cryin' out loud, not every freakin' time!! ADH)
***
don't do fines, so I can't answer that part of your question. The problem that I
do have is that the scanner will read only part of the bar code. Sometimes it will
leave off the first or last number, but sometimes it will skip one in the middle.
(done this, too.) I know the kid didn't check out the book when, for instance, it
says the kindergartner has checked out War and Peace. When a student tells me he
has already returned the book, I look at the bar code. If it is a 4 digit number
instead of a 5 digit number, I investigate further, because it is now suspect. If
he can find the book he returned, I can check, and see right away that the scanner
goofed. It is very frustrating because I want to be able to tell the kid for sure
that I know he still has the book.
***
So. My opinion? All in all - Follett has a problem and doesn't want to admit it.
Creeps. And this judgment in no way reflects the fact that I spent 5 hours of my
own time today - school's out and I'm off contract - contending with parents who
swear that their child (1) didn't check the book out (2) returned the book (3) gave
the book to a teacher to turn in, despite the information that (1) every locker,
classroom and nook and cranny has been checked and rechecked for books and (2) the
fact that I've rescanned everything for the third time.
You wanna know something? I love my job - I really do. However, it's little things
like this that make me long for a job in a flower shop. Or the night shift at a
morgue.
Amanda Hutchins
Library Media Specialist
Rison High School
700 Main St.
P.O. Box 600
Rison, AR 71665
phone: 870-325-7673
fax: 870-325-6799
e-mail: ahutchin@rison.k12.ar.us <mailto:ahutchin@rison.k12.ar.us>
You see, I don't believe that libraries should be drab places where people sit in
silence, and that's been the main reason for our policy of employing wild animals
as librarians.
- Monty Python skit
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