Does anyone have a comparison chart of Resource Mate and Concourse software? We are a small church library looking for software that will provide full database management, reporting, and barcoding. We need to provide a proposal and were hoping that someone had recently looked at products and could provide some insight. We have had our library for a number of years, but are growing and need to plan for future use with all church ministries.
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Kathryn,
Resource Mate uses barcoding but does not print them out - you have to buy ("dumb" or generic) barcodes from them already preprinted. I personally prefer the ability to print our own, with the book title and call number on them to verify the barcode #, but it's not critical. One thing that is critical is annual cost and quality of tech assistance/service. For a small library, a simpler system is more cost-effective, but if you have a large and active library, the initial and annual cost can be justified.
Something else to consider is, does the system have the ability to actively link your catalog to the church website, or at least post a catalog list? This will make your collection far more accessible and useful if it does, assuming your readers have some sort of online access from home.
Kathryn, I'm attaching an I wrote for another library forum about our process for selecting software. I evaluated Concourse, ResourceMate and Surpass and selected Concourse. Since the priorities & requirements for each library may vary, I encourage anyone considering automation to carefully evaluate the options. In fairness to other vendors and what may have been updated in the last couple of years, I have not made specific comments on deficiencies by system.
I hope my comments are helpful in your process. It's a big effort, but very worthwhile. We have been fully automated about two years now with about 4,800 total items in three collections (Concourse "Location"). Gene
Researching Library Software Purchase.pdf
Gene, thank you so much. This is wonderful information that we will definitely use. I appreciate your quick response.