Re: [LM_NET] Libraries switching to Atriuum (COSTS)

[Diane Lungaro <dianelu@YAHOO.COM>]

My apologies for posting this to the whole listserve after a HIT was posted, but I 
would like to remind/caution anyone who is looking into a new circ system to get 
their OWN personalized quotes from vendors.  We looked into Atriuum and Destiny 
last year, along with 2 other systems and received quotes that were almost 
identical in cost from these 2 contendors.  Getting "ballpark figures" is one 
thing, but to really do your district justice, you should always get an itemized 
quote so that you can make a fully informed decision.  
 
Diane




Diane Lungaro, library media specialist 
dianelu@yahoo.com 
Sussex Middle School 
Sussex-Wantage Regional Schools District 
Sussex, NJ 07461

--- On Thu, 10/30/08, Linda Brewer <brewerl@K12TN.NET> wrote:

From: Linda Brewer <brewerl@K12TN.NET>
Subject: [LM_NET] Hit-- Libraries switching to Atriuum Library Software
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Date: Thursday, October 30, 2008, 11:56 AM

 Thank you to all who responded about the Atriuum Library System.  Here are
the replies that I received.

****Jackson-Madison County school libraries went from Follett (mostly) to
Atriuum in January of this year. I like Atriuum a lot, and we found that the
trainers and tech support people have been very good, bent over backward in
some cases, to make the transition smooth. We had a few die-hard Follett
fans who took some convincing, but I think we are all really happy with the
change. Atriuum's home base is north Alabama, just a few hours away from
Columbia if they ever needed to come fix anything. Our trainer was actually
from Jackson and stayed with her parents while she worked with us. The
company does frequent live upgrades, and are willing to take suggestions
from their users about how to improve the product. So if you are having a
problem, they will probably do an update and fix it as soon as they can
figure it out.  Atriuum was about 40 percent less in initial cost, and there
isn't anything Follett Destiny does that Atriuum can't also do. I think
it's
more appealing visually, and I love being able to customize my OPAC page and
add news and messages to it. There are also several different interfaces for
your OPAC, so the elementary schools can use a kid-friendly picture-based
visual search. Having the entire library system on one set of servers in the
central office is wonderful. It eliminated the 28 separate systems we were
all running and simplified life for our district tech people who were
formerly having to run around to all the libraries. We also don't have to
pay separate yearly maintenance fees any more.
   

****We had Innovative Interfaces Millennium.  We are able to use our old bar
codes and generate new ones, too!  Our old scanners still work.  It was a
wonderful transition.  The personal service from Book Systems is the key, I
believe.  We have had 2 all day long training sessions and a manual.  The
tech people are not recorded messages.  Our contact/salesman is Alan
Dillard.  His email address is alandillard@gmail.com.  The price was a lot
less than several other companies we contacted and had more to offer. 

 

 ****Our school switched from Winnebago Spectrum to Atriuum last year.  I
really like the system.  It works well for us. Cataloging is easy,
circulation is fine, we can run lots of different reports, and it has a very
student-friendly OPAC. 

 

****We recently switched from Winnebago Spectrum to Atriuum. You can see our
new catalog at www.csb-cde.ca.gov
<file:///C:\Documents%20and%20Settings\lbrewer\My%20Documents\www.csb-cde.ca
.gov>  and click on "online library catalog".  The on-site
training I
received was very good - I spent a whole day with the trainer here at CSB
learning how the system works.  I really like the way you can do all kinds
of reports, and generating letters to staff about items out is much easier.
For our blind teachers, I can cut and paste the "items out" letters
into
Duxbury (our braille translation software) and with very little editing
transcribe them into braille. It was much harder to do that in Spectrum.
The cataloging feature is VERY different from Spectrum, and it's taken me a
while to get used to it. There are still features I miss about Spectum - I
really liked being able to see the whole MARC record in one screen. I really
like the quick cataloging feature, however. Since most of our braille books
list the print ISBN number, I can usually find a similar cataloging record
somewhere, and adapt it for our catalog.  We've had a couple of issues, but
most have been because of our network/server. Our IT person still hasn't
gotten the e-mail feature to work yet. Unfortunately, I do not have access
to the server (probably just as well, actually) and I don't always
understand the tech support answers. That's when I send the answers on to
our IT people.  Sometimes tech support is a little slow in answering
questions, especially at the beginning of the year. We still have one issue
with one computer, but I think it's the computer, not the program, since I
am not having problems with other computers.  The biggest problem we had
with the conversion was a mistake of my own making. I often have to use a
print record and change it to fit our alternate formats (large print
reproduction, braille, etc.) when cataloging. Problem is, I forgot to delete
either the print record ISBN and/or LCCN for all of those different formats
(large print, braille, print/braille, cassette, CD, CD-ROM). The result was
all those records that were listed separately because they were different
formats got merged into one format the first time the conversion was done.
It was a mess. The conversions department at BookSystems was able to strip
out the ISBN/LCCN numbers so that the records would stay separate upon
conversion. They were very helpful in working out all the problems that
basically I had created.  

 

****I haven't had the money to upgrade from Concourse (another Booksystems,
Inc. product) to Atriuum, but I can highly recommend the company that
produces it.  They are extremely responsive to customer input and their tech
support is simply the best.  It's been a long time since I needed it, but
last time I called, they still had a "live" operator handling calls. 
They
also provide online support.  Their website is www.booksys.com and you can
get current tech requirements and pricing by e-mailing sales@booksys.com.

  

 ****I switched from InfoCenter to Atriuum this past summer.  The conversion
was not difficult and Atriuum worked with all departments to make sure it
went smoothly.  I am still learning/discovering about the system.  In
regards to technical problems I would give it an A...I haven't had any
issues with the system like I did with Infocenter.  I have used the help
desk a few times and had no problems there either.  I like the interface and
circulation aspects of the system, but I don't like the cataloging process,
especially the Marc Records.  As I said, it is still early days and I am
still discovering new things...just this morning I discovered that most of
the information regarding memorial books was lost during conversion, so I
have to go back in and re-enter that information (if I can find it).    Our
middle school library went from Winnabago/Spectrum to Atriuum and they love
it - they see it as a big improvement.  My move was more lateral and overall
I am pleased with it, but I miss some aspects of InfoCenter. 

 

****Our district switched to ATRIUUM this fall and we LOVE it!  We are a
large district with 17,000+ students and 38+ schools.  It is sooooo user
friendly and the reports and information is readily accessible.  You will
love it!

 

****We switched to Atriuum two years ago... I like the flexibility of
reports and that we did not have to merge are database for all our catalogs
into one.  Our HS person has had trouble with inventory... i have not tried
inventory yet.

 

Linda Brewer

Librarian

Columbia Central High School

Columbia, TN  38401


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