Rosalyn Smith wrote:
>  I work in a small medical library (less than 250 subscriptions) and
> we are looking into purchasing a program for checking in periodicals.
> Could anyone please recommend an inexpensive program (preferably under
> $1000)?

Rosalyn et al.,

We're currently in the process of trying to replace our antiquated
check-in software, so I compiled the following list of standalone
(and mostly presumably inexpensive) programs:

Surpass Serials
http://www.surpasssoftware.com/serials.htm

Sagebrush Serials Manager
http://www.sagebrushcorp.com/tech/serials.cfm

SIMA Serials 2003
http://www.simainc.com/serials2003.htm

Right On Programs Periodical Manager
http://www.rightonprograms.com/default.asp?page=product_periodicalmanager.asp

W.T. Cox CoxTrax
http://www.wtcox.com/services5.html

Inmagic DB/Text for Libraries
http://www.inmagic.com/solutions/products/db_textworks/db_textworks_library.html

I've never used any of these.  I know of someone who uses Inmagic DB/Text
and likes it, and someone else who uses Sagebrush Serials Manager and
doesn't like it.  That's all I can offer in the way of actual
recommendations.  After evaluating all of these, I arrived at the
conclusion that none of them offers the power and flexibility we need, so
we've decided to try to go the free software (a.k.a. "open source") route
and build our own.  I'll update the list if/when anything becomes of this.

Trina

Trina Pundurs
Water Resources Center Archives, Univ. of California
tpundurs@library.berkeley.edu
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/WRCA/