Colleagues:
One of the very best responses to the original question I posted (how to
get a small library ready for automation) came from David Lininger...I
thought posting his response to the listserv in general might help others
in the same situation -- as noted in my original posting, the question
had really nothing to do with specific software or purchases, so if you
replied thusly, you were off the mark; the gist of the question was
specific advice: David all I can say is thanks!
On Wed, 06 Aug 2003 14:33:28 -0500, "David Lininger"
<tss003@mail.connect.more.net> said:
> At 12:36 PM 8/6/03, you wrote:
>
> >They will be purchasing the ATHENA system
> >(SAGEBRUSH COMPANY, merged with WINNEBAGO) so ATHENA or WINNEBAGO users
> >will be particularly helpful, but the question is really much more
> >generic than that.
>
> Good choice! I'm a very satisfied Athena user.
>
> First of all, CLOSE THE LIBRARY several days to several weeks before you
> start. The very first step is to make sure that you have all the books,
> equipment, etc. that is to be cataloged.
>
> Take the shelflist and physically verify that each item is actually on
> the
> shelf. Flag the card if something is missing - it may be found later. As
> you are doing this, look at each book to see if you really want to keep
> it
> on the shelf and pay the money to have it entered in the database. This
> will be decided mainly on the basis of age and appearance. If you decide
> to
> weed it, flag the card with a different marker and pull the book. Don't
> discard yet.
>
> Now check your circulation records, if any. Since there is no current
> automation system in place, you may have nothing but memory to go on
> here.
> If a book hasn't circulated in a reasonable amount of time, it is a good
> candidate for weeding. Again, flag the cards with the same marker as the
> ones discarded because of age or condition.
>
> At this point it is possible that a large portion of the collection is in
> the discard pile. That is not unusual, nor is it necessarily a cause for
> alarm. If standards require that a certain number of books be on the
> shelves, and the weeding would take you below this, then you will have to
> put some back. If not, then mark the books as discarded, pull ALL of the
> cards for them, pitch the cards and offer the books to anyone who wants
> them. Pitch what doesn't get taken in a few days. Be sure to remove
> whatever marker you used to indicate possible discards.
>
> Take your remaining shelflist cards and look them over, one at a time. If
> the information is all correct, put the card back. If not, retype the
> card.
> As you are going through these cards, pull out the cards for those books
> not found. Keep these separate.
>
> Now follow the instructions of whoever is going to do the actual
> retrospective conversion. Usually this means boxing up the shelflist
> cards
> and sending them to the company. Some time later you will receive a data
> disk and your shelflist cards back.
>
> All this assumes that you will be sending your cards out. Athena offers a
> cd that will let you do the conversion yourself. If you can work while
> the
> library is closed for a long period of time, such as summer vacation, and
> you have someone to help you, you can actually do it all yourself. That's
> what I did, and it really isn't all that difficult. If you are interested
> in details, email me privately and I'll answer your questions.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
>
>
> David Lininger, kb0zke
> LMS, Hickory County R-1 Schools
> Urbana, MO 65767
> mailto: tss003@mail.connect.more.net
>
--
Stephen Perry
E-MAIL: perrystephen@fastmail.fm
Stephen Perry, IRO,
RESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: 3046 Godoy Cruz, 15th FLOOR, RIO, TORRE 2, Barrio
Palermo
OFFICE PHONE: 54-11-5777-4832
HOME PHONE: 54-11-4775-1392
CELL PHONE: 155-060-6160
NOTE: 54 is the area code for ARGENTINA while 11 is the city code for
Buenos AIRES.
BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA, SOUTH AMERICA
ACTUAL MAILING ADDRESS FOR PACKAGES AND LETTERS:
c/o STEPHEN PERRY, IRC, AMEMBASSY UNIT, APO 4330, APO AA 34034-0001 (do
not/not use residential address for mailing)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-
All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law.
To change your LM_NET status, e-mail to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu
In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL
3) SET LM_NET MAIL 4) SET LM_NET DIGEST * Allow for confirmation.
LM_NET Help & Information: http://ericir.syr.edu/lm_net/
Archive: http://askeric.org/Virtual/Listserv_Archives/LM_NET.shtml
LM_NET Select/EL-Announce: http://www.cuenet.com/archive/el-announce/
LM_NET Supporters: http://ericir.syr.edu/lm_net/ven.html
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-
LM_NET
Mailing List Home