Finding the perfect system

When Cabra Dominican College in Adelaide reviewed their outdated library management system in 2013, Head Librarian, Stephen Bull, evaluated all the systems on the market. “We looked at Oliver and several other systems before settling on Accessit. I have used quite a few other library management systems over the years in all sorts of libraries, but I find Accessit to be the most stable, functional, affordable system with great customer service and brilliant technical help.”

So when Stephen made the move to the Swiss alpine town, Crans-Montana, in 2016, Accessit Library was the obvious choice. “I never regretted the choice to move to Accessit and thought only of Accessit for the brand new library I have set up here in Switzerland,” says Stephen.

Building a library from scratch

To put it lightly, building a library from scratch is “a shedload of work, lots of it manual,” says Stephen. “On the plus side, I’ve had carte blanche on the selection of nearly all the resources, in liaison with teachers, and students, of course. I have been able to start systems from zero, such as Textbook and Periodical acquisition, to develop an integrated resource management system for the whole school.”

“The experience of setting up with Accessit was almost seamless. I had no data conversion of existing collections, so that was a bonus, but I did find a lot of uncatalogued material purchased before my arrival that needed retrospective cataloguing. The Automated Cataloguing tools were perfect for this,” says Stephen.

Two libraries, one library system

Stephen built two libraries, a Junior School Library (Years 3-8) and a Senior School Library (Years 9-13). Both libraries are bright and spacious and provide an atmosphere conducive to reading for pleasure and academic excellence. With Accessit on board, “the student can connect electronic devices to the WiFi network, giving them access to the latest e-resources. With an up-to-date stock of journals and magazines all housed under one system, it fosters a culture in which students are encouraged to read widely, research and study.” says Stephen.

The modern reader

One of the major challenges Stephen has found is engaging his students in critical thinking and analysis. “The ubiquity of 1-to-1 mobile devices in schools and the over-reliance on technology can seems to have a detrimental effect on student (and staff) motivation and ability to read and think deeply. There is a much greater surface skimming of ‘content’, where before students were better at selecting and understanding the context of the information.”

Stephen feels that Accessit Library helps to provide users with “quick access to quality information. Building a hybrid print/digital collection and providing access with a great LMS is my main job, and Accessit makes it that much easier,” says Stephen. “The One Search function allows our users to search not only our own collection through the catalogue, but to search multiple free and subscriber websites and databases simultaneously. This facility enables students and staff to search broadly and deeply, across academic and popular electronic sources, all within the Accessit Library environment”.

Support behind the software

“The helpdesk support, even from Switzerland is outstanding. They are always quick to respond, friendly and I don’t think I have ever had a problem that wasn’t solved eventually,” says Stephen. “I would (and do) recommend Accessit to any librarians I meet who aren’t already using it. In fact, if I ever want a new challenge, I think working for Accessit could be quite rewarding. Any plans on opening an Alpine Swiss Office?”

With two libraries across two separate campuses catering to students K through 12, librarians SJ Drummond and Laney Kortas wanted a library system that would be a portal for their students – reaching a world beyond the four walls of the library and their town of Farmville, Virginia.

“Two years ago we switched from a massive system that was not user-friendly (and did not have an attractive interface) to an internal system that was included within our new campus management platform. Nine months into it, they announced that they were dropping the library option. After trying to reconnect to our previous system, we found that all of our data had been deleted (despite accessing it the week before) and that we would have to start from the beginning. Cost and unwillingness to work with us (after over 25 years of previous subscription) motivated our school to look elsewhere,” says SJ.

A big change

Dissatisfied and weary, SJ and Laney started the search for a new system.

“Initially I polled other librarians online, then researched their top three. Accessit looked amazing and, when I followed up, your rep Bonnie was brilliant and very helpful – demo-ing, explaining, and willing to really work with us on our budget. Additionally, her can-do attitude was such a refreshing change,” says SJ.

Knowing it would be a time consuming process to re-enter all the inventory manually after the disastrous previous transition, SJ and Laney worried about a repeat experience and loss of inventory, but “the actual process of cataloguing the books to add to the system went flawlessly. Once we did one or two we had the hang of it and it was smooth sailing” says Laney “and because we also worked with SCIS, barcode scanning to add titles was a dream,” added SJ.

For SJ and Laney, the training topped off the experience. “The training sessions, the tutorials, and the almost 24 hour support has been incredible. Plenty of time was taken to explain the system, and excessive patience given as we learned and questioned,” says SJ.

Engaging Web App

Having patrons engage with their library system was something brand new for Fuqua School. “Our Accessit home page can really showcase the best of what we have now – and the options to add news, reviews, and other pertinent info is just a really cool thing,” says SJ. She can see that over time the students will use the library catalogue to its full potential, “I am encouraged that the younger students are being trained to utilize Accessit more completely and efficiently and are therefore learning better habits,” says SJ.

A better way to search

After years of uninspiring library systems, and the endless deluge of new information via the internet, SJ and Laney noticed that the students had become very quick to resort to Google or social media for up-to-date information. As SJ notes, “While this is not necessarily a bad thing, it can lead to mis-information and fake news. The challenge our staff has is to channel them towards true research – impartial, relatable and current.”

Accessit’s One Search tool opens patrons up to curated scholarly material and reliable up-to-date information, doing away with the temptation to draw facts from Google and social media. “One Search inspires my students (and faculty) to browse more (both virtually AND physically),” says SJ. “Our school has just signed up for a subscription to World Book Online (which in itself is brilliant across the K-12 board). To be able to seamlessly tap into that resource using Accessit’s One Search is going to be AMAZING this next school year!”