Dear Hasafranim,
Below are the responses I received so far on automating a small synagogue
library. I realize I erred when I said the Wiki was from 2001. Indeed, it's
from 2010, but the background is what is really helpful.
My own experience with ResourceMate has been largely positive. For under $200
to start (not including yearly support and add-on modules), I get an
integrated, intuitive system -- cataloging, circulation, searching, etc. True,
there is currently no Hebrew capability (I hear that is to change), but I've
not found that an imperative with our congregants; transliteration has worked
just as well. I think the only bugs to work out have been regarding emailed
overdue notices, a system I find clunky and difficult. But free updates come
every few months and customer support is very good.
Rachel Haus
Library Director
Congregation of Moses Library
Kalamazoo MI
[email protected]
****************************************************************************This
page on the AJL Wiki,
http://www.jewishlibraries.org/main/Resources/AJLWiki/tabid/200/Default.aspx?topic=Automation+for+Synagogue+and+Center+Libraries,
about automation systems for synagogue libraries, resulted from a 2012
survey of AJL members. Although it’s not annotated, there are links to the
web sites of most of the systems mentioned.
Debbie Stern, AJL VP for Publications
Mordecai M. Kaplan Library
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
*******************************************************************************I
just updated the list of software for small libraries. it is on the web site
under “Resources” I believe. It is current as of about one month ago.
Interesting to note—Mandarin has a program they are offering free of charge. It
does accept Hebrew! Also, Resourcemate will be offering a new edition that
accepts Hebrew. OPALS is an open source program that has a union catalog of the
Avi Chai schools.
Susan Dubin
Off-the-Shelf Library Services
*****************************************************************************
I write as a professional cataloger and the chair of a synagogue library
committee where we just completed automating our catalog this week.
The first consideration is cost. I'm assuming that there are limited
resources, because that's usually the case. If you have money, you should
interview the librarians who use the various small-library systems that are
mentioned on the wiki.
We used LibraryWorld, which is about $400/year. If I were to start again, I
would use Librarything, which I recommend for libraries that are beginning a
project for these reasons:
1. It is virtually free--about $25/year. You can learn the process of
cataloging, make mistakes, change your mind, and have crises, all without a
meter running.
2. If and when you finish the project, you will have a MARC database that is
exportable to any other system you decide to/can afford to use.
Beth Dwoskin
2005 Calumet
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
*****************************************************************************Thanks
for this advice Beth. Just want to point out the distinction between an
automated catalog and an integrated library system for automating your library.
Librarything is an example of the former, but it doesn’t include modules for
computerized circulation, etc. Systems such as OPALS, cited on the AJL Wiki,
are examples of the latter.
Debbie
*****************************************************************************************
Thanks, Debbie. Based on my very limited investigation of OPALS, it is far too
costly for most synagogues. I would love to hear differently.
Beth Dwoskin
2005 Calumet
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
*************************************************************************************************I
wrote a long piece about automating small congregational libraries that was
supposed to be added to the Wiki; I'm sorry you didn't find the Wiki useful. I
bought LibraryWorld about 10 years ago. It's a great system and is really easy
to use. It doesn't require knowledge of MARC, and the searching is quite
intuitive, which is the most important thing to me. However, there is an
ongoing fee for updates, and since I virtually have no budget, I no longer pay
the fee and hope that we continue just fine. If I were to do it now, I'd use
Library Thing. It's $25; you can't beat the price. I've not used Library
Thing myself, but since it is used by lots of people for their personal
collections, I'm guessing it's very easy to use. Again, if you're going to go
with one of the more expensive systems, make sure the searching is really easy.
I like LibraryWorld
because a list of the terms around the one I'm searching come up on a bar on
the left of the screen. This is particularly useful, since the
transliterations aren't consistant. It doesn't help with Chanukah and Hanukah,
but it does help with Hannukah, Hanuka, and Hanukah or Shabbat and Shabbos.
My library is about the same size, and we use Elazar as well. The call numbers
fit fine; I just had to put them in the field for Dewey numbers. Now that you
can access Worldcat for free, it's really easy to find cataloging copy. There
are only a few Hebrew works that I have not been able to find in Worldcat.
I don't know your library background, but my congregational work is as a
volunteer. My "real" job is at the University of Southern California, so I
have lots of resources to use and 37 years of library experience to put into
this.
Emily Bergman
Temple Sinai
Glendale, CA
****************
This is a question you have to ask yourself. I see no use for a circulation
system, since we are a congregation of less than 300 families and a collection
of about 2,000 volumes. The users just write their names on the checkout
cards, and they are filed by title...a little old school, but lots better than
expecting users to have library cards. We also don't have due dates or charge
fines...it's too much work. Once a year, I send letters to everyone who has a
book out and request it to be returned for an inventory (which we've only done
once, but they don't need to know that). When we did the inventory, we had the
same loss rate of 6% as is the published average, and that was for everything
missing up to that point...it's probably less on an annual basis. Since I am a
volunteer, I am not going to all the trouble of creating circ records and going
after overdue books. If I have to, I simply replace them...in the long run, I
think it's cheaper and
certainly easier for me. I do wish I had an acquisition system, but using an
Excel spreadsheet has been fine. I've been without a materials budget for so
long, it hasn't even been an issue. I'm on a book award committee, so I get
several dozen books every year through that, and those are the new books
(though it's just adult books, and my best users are the kids).
Emily Bergman
Freedman Library
Temple Sinai
Glendale, CA
**************************************************************************
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