Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 12:00:43 -0600 From: "Martha Coleman" <mcoleman@mail.westark.edu> Organization: Westark College Subject: Vendor Comparisons I received a couple of requests to summarize for the list. The following are the 4 messages that I received in response to my question about a comparison between Sirsi, Innovative, and VTLS serials modules. Martha Coleman mcoleman@systema.westark.edu Boreham Library Westark Community College 501-788-7208 phone 5210 Grand Avenue 501-788-7209 FAX Fort Smith, AR 72913 From: "Mary Page" <mspage@rci.rutgers.edu> Date sent: Mon, 24 Nov 1997 11:04:42 -0500 To: mcoleman@mail.westark.edu Subject: sirsi v. innovative We are currently migrating from innovative to sirsi. innovative is the cadillac of serials systems, and sirsi is the rickshaw, at best. sirsi serials is clumsy, requires many more keystrokes than innovative. learning curve for staff has been really steep. we are creating control records in sirsi at the rate of 2 per hour. it's a difficult transition. on the bright side, there are a lot of academic libs. with sirsi now that are finding the product inadequate for our needs, and we are banding together to urge sirsi to overhaul its serials system. we are now on release 9.x, and major improvements are expected with release 11 (around 2000). so you may end up getting a system that's vastly improved (at least if your bidding process takes as long as mine did!) good luck. Mary Page LSM/Rutgers University Piscataway, NJ -- Mary Page mspage@rci.rutgers.edu From: "Steve Zahorbenski" <szahor@rci.rutgers.edu> Date sent: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 14:42:55 -0500 To: mcoleman@mail.westark.edu Subject: (Fwd) Vendor comparisons I saw your posting on Serialst about switching serials modules. We were an Innopac site for 5 years and really liked the functionality for serials. This summer we switched to SIRSI and SIRSI is NOT good at all for serials. We are currently inputting records for our 3500 title collection and finding Sirsi to be very "keyboard intensive". The system requires lots of editing for anythine that does not fit established patterns. I would strongly recommend that you stay away from Sirsi. Good luck! Steve Zahorbenski Rutgers Univ. 11/21/97 Date sent: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 10:55:01 -0500 (EST) From: Deborah Harrell <dharrell@westga.edu> To: Martha Coleman <mcoleman@MAIL.WESTARK.EDU> Subject: Re: Vendor comparisons > Our library is currently using the VTLS (release 92) serials > module but would like to explore other serials modules. We > have seen demos of Innovative and Sirsi. We have been using Sirsi since 1992 for serials. And although we aren't running the latest version, perhaps my experience will help. In addition, we have explored the possibility of all University System libraries use the same vendor, so we have looked at Innovative and VTLS. Sirsi has a number of reports that are "canned"--you can pull up and modify as you need--as well as training to create your own reports. Our library does belong to Georgia On-Line Database (GOLD) which is part of OCLC. This is primarily for ILL use, but can be used for other purposes. We also use WordPerfect to create a paper "user-friendly" list of periodical holdings. This listing is placed beside our reference computers--we have 25-30. So you see, we still maintain three separate serials records as well. As far as Sirsi is concerned, I would choose them over all the other vendors. I've seen DRA...their reports are virtually non-existent. And none of the vendors except for Sirsi treat serials as separate entities--everyone else lumps them with book acquisitions. Although they are similar, they aren't identical and (to me) should be separate. Incidentally, we are a university library with one main campus and several "off campus" sites. Currently we have approximately 9000 students. Ingram Library has 31 full-time employees and approximately 50 student assistants. We average 1400 current subscriptions with a budget of around $200,000. Debbie Harrell Technical Processor Irvine S. Ingram Library State University of West Georgia 770/836-6498 770/836-6626 (fax) From: "June Breland" <jbreland@Library.MsState.Edu> To: mcoleman@mail.westark.edu Date sent: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 10:50:43 CST6CDT Subject: Re: Vendor comparisons Priority: normal I'm sorry I'm not familiar with VTLS or Sirsi but we used to have the Innovative serials/acquisitions module. We were able to get all kinds of reports from Innovative without having to rely on a person at the system level to write progamming language, etc. I recommend it highly if it will fit within your budget. June Breland jbreland@library.msstate.edu Collection Development Officer phone: 601-325-7672 Mitchell Memorial Library fax: 601-325-3560 P.O. Box 5408 Campus mail stop: 9570 Mississippi State University Mississippi State, MS 39762-5408
