Many thanks to all who responded to my request for advice on upgrading from
CIRC/CAT to Spectrum. Here is my original post and a HIT of the responses.
You're all great!
Ann Arpin
Library Media Specialist
Fisher Elementary School
Walpole, MA 02081
Arpina4@attbi.com
Original Post:
I will be upgrading from Winnebago CIRC/CAT to Spectrum 5.0 in the fall. If
you have gone through this process, were there any pitfalls the
documentation failed to mention, or do you have any advice to offer to make
the process go smoothly? We will continue to use our Mac server at least
for the next year or so, so won't take advantage of Spectrum Suite's
web-based features until we are equipped to do so. We will use it strictly
in the library media center for circulation/patron look-up stations. Thanks
for any advice you can send my way!
HIT:
We have gone through a similar process. Just make sure that all your
records have the correct material type indicated and that there is a
common call pattern number for each material type. Make sure there are
no books in your default material type. these tend to not get
transferred in the conversion process.
----------------
We upgraded last school year and no problems. I did have to call the help
desk for some clarification but everything transferred. We also are using
Web Marc - they send us cataloged web sites to use with the card catalog -
it's wonderful. You can get the sites by grade so we get K-5 and all the
sites have been appropriate. They send you updates about every 3 months. I
would check into it. I really like the upgrade.
----------------------
The process goes smoothly, but there are a couple of things you can do
to make sure it goes well. First, just before sending your data off for
conversion to the new version 5, make sure you run an integrity check.
Make sure all errors in data that the system finds are taken care of.
They will only get compounded in the new system. Run reports and check
to make sure everything looks as it should. Do a backup (or more than
one) , just in case.
---------------------
The program to prepare to switch your records from Winnebago to
Spectrum takes MUCH longer than is indicated in the Spectrum materials,
many hours. Luckily, we did it at the end of the school year (2001,
approx. 12,000 records) when classes were no longer coming to the
library. Still, I had to let the program run over a weekend. Also,
check out the terms of "free" support. They say a year, but initially
in our case they meant until our current support agreement ran out,
which was only a couple of months! Fortunately, we have a group support
agreement and a very feisty administrator who got this changed to a true
calendar year. Be prepared for some changes in the way circulation
works, some nifty features of Winnebago were left out (reserve warnings
for instance) and my volunteers needed a good bit of retraining. I
really like all the catalog functions though. Good luck!
--------------------------
We upgraded on June 21st, the day after schoolended, with PCs, from Spectrum
4.0 to 5.0. Our technician was very experienced.
------------------
He upgraded the server and we left it to load overnight; we came in the next
morning and were thrilled to see the "successful" window. He ran the
necessary 'patches' to upgrade it from the internet from 5.0 to 5.1.1 and
then uploaded the info to our Catalog Stations. Last year I ran Spectrum as
a "program" on the server, which then had me making certain changes on the
server. This tech installed the program as a 'service' so if there are
problems, or when I 'maintain' the program, I can do everything from my own
circ/cat station. (much better) The reports are much clearer, and we had NO
problems. I hope it goes as well for you. We had been using another
technician when we first installed the program in 2000 who didn't know the
program and we had other annoyances last year. Good luck, let me know how it
goes.
-----------------
I am right in the middle of the change you are getting ready to do. We
expect to be ready for the beginning of school in August. You will be
able to copy your parton files, material files and your set up files to
the new system. On Monday I worked on exporting them from the Mac, only
to find out that the material file is way too big. They had to know that
this was going to happen. The only way is to copy it on to another
server or use a program to compress the files. I guess if you have a zip
drive that would work, too. I think we will be able to copy it to
another server and then copy it to the new Winnebago server. I can do
the Mac work myself; I set up the system by myself years ago. But I
need help from our District Technology Coordinator to do the Windows
work. He had to do other things this week, so I am stuck without being
able to go much farther without him. I am keeping the single user
version of the Mac program on the old server computer until I am
absolutely sure there is no problem. I am finding this more than a
little stressful, especially the DTC's working on other stuff and
leaving me in the middle of my conversion. I will try to update you when
we work on it again. One thing I need to talk to Winnebago about is
what new information to give to my regular jobbers about cataloging
specifications.
--------------
We went from Winnebago to Spectrum 5 last August. It would have helped
and still would if we had both books of documentation (reference and
user's manuals); only one was available in print version. Tech support
has been very good although there have been some questions that remain
unanswered. Our's school's tech person handled the "upgrade," with me
attending to make decisions that have to be made during the process.
I think the changeover went pretty smoothly, but as the school year went
on, some problems popped up. You can't simply print a screen the way you
could with Winnebago. Sagebrush sells a slip printer, but that's not
what I wanted. My tech person got some shareware that allows me to print
a screen; still not as good as what I had, but helpful.
I think on the calendar I had to set the global due date separately for
each patron type.
Sometimes a bar code will show up with asterisks on each side of it.
Sagebrush sent me a "patch" to take care of this.
Procedures are not always intuitive, so I've called Sagebrush numerous
times to avoid incredible amounts of time poring over a badly-written
manual.
Can't think of anything else at the moment. Am finishing inventory and
definitely prefer some of the features on Spectrum to those of Winnebago
for this procedure.
-----------------
My library was upgraded to Spectrum 5.0 last December. Make sure that you
have a BACK-UP of all of your files before you get started. I didn't and I
lost all the materials I had cataloged on my own like paperbacks, donated
books, magazines, etc. I WAS A BIG NIGHTMARE FOR ME!!!! It took my almost 2
weeks before I re-entered all of this materials.
-----------------------
My DTC and I finished our converstion today. I got the CIRC station
working just before I left school and I was so excited. Our kids will
love the visual search function of the catalog. We didn't run into much
trouble. My Mac is a real old one and it won't take a Windows disk and
the new computer wouldn't take the Mac disks so Billy the DTC downloaded
a program from the internet that took care of that problem. He copied
my material files to another Windows server and had a small problem with
that in that the folder on the hard drive was locked. He managed to
unlock it (Windows problem) in a short time. The CIRC station is up and
running. I installed the portable bar code reader software, which is a
little tricky because it needs an internet download for the Palm
software. I have yet to see if it will work. We now have all the Patron
stations to do and that will just take time. I am excited that this part
is over. Billy worked from about 11 until 2:30 today. It did take a
long time to convert all the MARC files--an hour at least. I hope yours
goes smoothly.
------------------
We upgraded from Winnebago DOS to Spectrum 5 this year. We are on a Windows
2000 based platform. If you follow the instructions on how to prepare and
transfer your files all should go well. We had a bit of a hiccup with the
first transfer attempt on the server. Many files did not transfer. I then
did an install using the single client disk on a stand-alone computer. A few
files were lost but as yet they have not been missed. The files on the
stand-alone were then transferred to the server and the program has
performed well beyond my expectations ever since. I can't say enough for the
Sagebrush tech support which you will need in the beginning. The old getting
the SLIP (printer) to be recognized etc. If you have a problem, they are
right there. A Rep. came to the school and we had a day of intense
instruction. The Spectrum listserv and website is also invaluable. I am
preparing to inventory over the summer and this year it will be a pleasure.
The Winnebago DOS inventory was a challenge. If possible, once you are using
the program, you might consider attending the all day seminar Sagebrush
holds once a year in the Sturbridge area. I need to reiterate this glowing
report refers to the Windows OS. Your post mentioned that you use the Mac
OS. I used a zip drive to transfer my files.
-----------------------
I just "got" Spectrum in my new library, so I don't know about updating from
an older version; but, the web based feature works with the MAC server. I
have an iMac as my server and it works fine searching from the card catalog
to the web. I subscribe to that service - what's it called? - WebMARC. I
update the files every month and the card catalog will search both locally
and on the web for a topic using all MACs. The only thing I found so far is
that I cannot add photos of the students to the database because they only
support bitmaps and that's PC, not MAC. Although, I do remember something
else that was not supported by the MAC platform, but cannot remember what it
was exactly. Good luck!
----------------
Our supervisor asked that we batch process all discards
from the old system before exporting to the new system.
If items were marked lost, I think they exported to the
new system with that status, if I remember right. I
think any material and patron records in the old system
exported to the new system.....just not what was
currently checked out. Hope this helps!
__________________________________
We just made this switch last fall and had very few
problems. Our supervisor helped with
exporting/importing records and installing software so
that helped but, overall, it was not a big problem. Any
books that were currently checked out on the old system
did not switch over though so we either had to get all
books in and start fresh or manually input the books
checked out by each patron (as I did since we're a very
small school). As students brought books back, we
checked them in on the old system and then checked out
books that day on the new system. Any books that were
not brought back were manually checked out on new system
(and in on the old system). Before we completely dumped the old system, we
had to make sure all books had been checked in/moved over to the new system.
(I hope this is making sense.) Anyway, we kept the old system running for a
couple of weeks while we were in transition until
all books were checked in or moved over. Good luck!
------------------------
I converted to Spectrum in February. Most of the problems were minor.
The biggest problems I did not discover until the end of the year during
inventory time. I found that all of the books that I had marked as "Lost"
from my previous inventory had all lost that designation. (This was a
serious
problem for me since we had just consolidated two other library collections
into our collection the previous year. (We have a new school which
consolidated 3 small elementary schools. When I uploaded the records and
did an inventory, many books were unaccounted for, so I marked them as lost.
I didn't want to delete them yet because I felt that some would turn up
after teachers unpacked their boxes.) I suggest that you print out a list
of all
books marked as lost from any previous inventories.
Another complaint is that at the end of the year, I wanted to print out
a
report of how many books, videos, etc. had been added this school year (for
my annual inventory report). Well, I couldn't get that report for this year
because, as of February, when all of the data from Circ/Cat was uploaded
into the new Spectrum program--it considered everything to have been added
this year. This was a one-time problem.
My biggest complaint and the thing I most dislike about the new Spectrum
program is that I am no longer able to create a custom report. The Spectrum
people believed that they could second guess and anticipate my every need.
Well, they were wrong. In the past, each six week grading period, and at
the end of the year, I have always printed out a master overdue list for the
office by grade and teacher. It gives the name of the student, the material
number of the missing book(s), the title of the book(s), when it was
checked out, and the price of the book. What the new program will not do is
give me the option to print the price of the book on the report. I had to
go to each overdue record, look up the price of the book and write in the
price of each overdue book. Talk about a waste of my time! (Also, it did
not alphabetize the names of the students.) I had set up a custom report
(in my old circ/cat program) that allowed me to print out that information
using one line per student. I spent many hours on the telephone with
technical support trying to get what I needed. They finally admitted that
the program would not print the report with all of the necessary
information. I don't believe that an upgrade should make my job any more
difficult or time consuming than it already is.
One other item I noticed in the Mac version is that when I go to a
circulation record and the program informs me that "a student has a fine
etc.
would I like to see it?" When I respond, "yes" and go to that record, it
gives me an option to print the record, but it never has actually printed
the
record from that screen. I have to go to Reports , then to Overdues or
Fines
and give the patron number range in order to get a printout of that
particular record.
Other than these, I haven't had any particular problems. But, I do feel
that these problems with the reports are serious enough that they should be
addressed.
--------------------
I converted in March and have been very satisfied. There is already an
upgrade (5.1) that you will need to download to your circulation computers.
It has an enhancement to make the barcodes bold and they are much better!
The screens are very user friendly. I am anticipating being able to download
all the patron names from our attendance secretary. This was not done in the
past and should expedite the startup of the school year. The book to look
things up is easy to use. One feature I am not using correctly or is not
working like it was in Winnebago is the ability for the next available
number to come up when you are bar coding. I printed a list of available
numbers and I have been checking them off as I go. This could be user
error...the help desk is friendly. YOU CAN PUT YOUR SCHOOL NAME on the
barcodes...you just have to click to the right screen.Good luck.
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