HIT : Sirs Discoverer / WEB

[Jacquelyn Shanti <shanti@CSD.UWM.EDU>]

Dear Friends,
Thank you all for responding to my question about Sirs Discoverer on the
WEB. Below are the responses I received.

Jackie Shanti
LM Specialist
Clara Barton School
Milwaukee, WI   53223
shanti@alpha2.csd.uwm.edu


We have had it for two years, as well as another magazine databsae, and
find it far superior to the CD-ROM. Nice interface, and no neet to do the
reinstall every time they make a major change, which was far too often for
me. We love it, because now all online computers on Campus have access!



I have nothing but rave reviews for SIRS online. We just survived a year in
a temporary location without our periodical backfile, and used web-based
SIRS heavily and with great success. I don't recall ever having a problem
connecting to the SIRS server, and students had great success finding the
articles they needed quickly. If you have a dedicated line and a relatively
stable and fast Internet connection, I would urge you to switch to online.
In addition to SIRS, we use the following web-based databases:
ProQuest Direct, UMI's core newspaper collection, Electric Library, NY
Times archive, and CQ.



Using SIRS Discoverer on the web works as well as your Web access. The
files are very graphic-intensive, so loading will be slow if you don't have
fairly fast access and enough RAM to support the files. When you sign up
for access by Web you'll need to go through a process of registering each
workstation as an authorized user; how complicated htat is depends on your
system of IP addresses and cookie storage for each workstation. Reply with
your setup on those issues and I can give you a better answer.
When it works, it's good. When it works inconsistently (as ours did for
much of the year due to setup problems and difficulties using the CD on our
LAN) teachers aren't sure whether to count on it. They do normally provide
a CD copy for use as a backup in case of Web interruption; if you have a
machine in the Media Center (AKA Library) with a CD drive that's the least
painful way to use it.



We had a subscription last year, and the results were less than acceptable.
We had the representative out several times to correct the address; it
seemed it had changed without our knowing, so the bookmark we had set was
unusable. I don't know whether it was our machines (Digitals with 16 megs)
or what, but it was very slow. The students could get into the site (once
the address problem was fixed), but then when they clicked on topic/word
search, they waited and waited and waited and never got in. Two minutes is
an incredibly long time when you're waiting. Several of the schools in our
district reported the same problems; as a result, we decided not to renew.
Hope this helps in your decision.



If you have consistent and reliable Internet access, the web version is the
way to go--not only because it's updated daily, but because there are fewer
management issues--you don't have to keep swapping out CD's!!. However, if
Internet access is slow and/or your servers are "down" a lot, I wouldn't
change.



My students and staff have enjoyed using SIRS Discoverer on the Web. We
switched from the CD ROM product about two years ago and have access to
Discoverer on all of our Internet access computers (about 70 machines
schoolwide). We enjoy the unrestricted access that comes Web access. Now I
can teach Discoverer to all students in a lab setting, actively engaging
them in the lessons vs. rely on posters with instructions above the
machines after having students observe passively while I demonstrated the
product. Discoverer has a nice student instruction booklet online at the
Web site as well that I use in their lessons.



We've used it for 6 months and it is a great advantage - particularly when
students CAN'T get to the Library during open hours! The only problem we
have is if the in-house server goes down, but that would create CD-ROM
problems as well.



We were so much happier with it -- no more server, printer problems. You do
have to have a reliable Internet provider -- we have two t-1 lines serving
our district and connections are very quick. We just were very impressed --
updates are more frequent, kids can e-mail articles home easily if they
have e-mail at home, which puts them more into the arena of technology that
they will use when they are in college or save to a disk, as well as cut
and paste. SIRS also offers several other features that students don't
access with the disk.



My entire school has found it very easy to use. Very little instruction is
needed before results are had. Many of my students like the fact that they
can e-mail it to themselves at home. Tech. support was wonderful when we
added IP addresses.

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