Comments

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  Sandy Blakney April 3, 2024 7:15

  Hi Ann,
  I really like the way you integrated the Tiny Cat into the library page on your church’s website! It does address the concerns I raised.
  Thank you. This is very helpful. I feel confident our committee will be able to make a decision soon.
  Sandy
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  Paul T. Jackson April 1, 2024 17:19

  

  There are quite a few software programs available for libraries. Unfortunately, each one has excellent things, but always lack something. I've used Readerware because it allows one to grab cataloging from other online databases. The issue is that sometimes you will get the update, new edition, instead of the one in the library, and their "auto update" changes all items in the catalog with new dates; if any. The version I used 10 years ago, did not have a label printing program, so we developed our own software for that. I recall that it had a great search module for printing up list of books for different subjects. There are many new updates to this software so I would certainly take a look at it. https://www.readerware.com/index.php/products/new-version

  

  Readerware Products - What's New in Version 4

  Internet software for collectors, schools, libraries, churches. The easiest, fastest way to catalog your books, music and videos. Nothing else comes…
  • 

    Sandy Blakney > Paul T. Jackson April 1, 2024 19:59

    

    Thank you Paul. I am almost ready to compare the systems that have been shared as well as the systems that the CLN website lists. The comments have been very helpful.
    Sandy
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  Sandy Blakney March 30, 2024 9:50

  Hi Bette,
  Thanks for sharing your experience withOPAL. The look of your site is more in line with what would work for us. We are also a Creative Space for writers and we are planning on having lots of events. I noticed there is a tab for events. Open source is also good.
  Thanks again and Happy Easter!
  Sandy
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  Bette Hess March 30, 2024 8:48

  Sandy, We have been using OPALS for almost 10 years and find it very user friendly. You can edit your home page as you wish. It is setup to allow you to import MARC records from Library of Congress or a number of other resources. You can create special displays for occasions/events. Patron checkout is available (we do not use it because our library is open/not secure). It is "Open Source" so available to use free. Our church chose to pay a fee each year and OPALS then hosts our library on their server so we are accessible from home, online from anywhere. They also provide zoom sessions to help you when needed. Here is my churche to preview. https://fpcp.scoolaid.net/bin/home#0 and OPALS https://opalsinfo.net/special-libraries/ Best of luck,
  Bette Hess

  FPCP :: Calvin LibraryFirst Presbyterian Church of Portland
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  Sandy Blakney March 28, 2024 14:06

  Hello!
  My name is Sandy and I am charged with the task of building out a library in our church. We have two rooms which will house YA/Adult books. We are currently furnishing. We don’t have a budget but can probably get $500 for a software program to manage our library. We would like to have a self checkout system if possible. Any suggestions? I have looked at Handy Library, TinyCat, and Surpass. I am a volunteer with no real library experience save for work study in college over 40 years ago!
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    Ann Johnson > Sandy Blakney April 2, 2024 9:56

    Hi Paul and Sandy - I work in 2 church libraries that use LibraryThing and TinyCat (for 11 and 3 years). There are compromises that come with it's affordability but we liked it. Related to Paul's original post, we discovered that if you choose an Amazon cover for a book when you enter it into LibraryThing/TinyCat, anytime a new edition of that book is released on Amazon, the cover shown for your book will change. This is a problem when you are looking for a book in your library based on it's cover! So, we get around that by trying always choose covers from somewhere besides Amazon. If nothing besides Amazon is available, I will scan the cover myself and attach that to our book Somehow, over the years, some of the covers I've scanned for LibraryThing/TinyCat seem to have disappeared but we haven't researched that.
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    Sandy Blakney > Ann Johnson April 2, 2024 10:21

    Ann this is helpful to know how to work around potential problems. LibraryThing/TinyCat was the first system I looked at. I am using it for my collection of books at home. I really do appreciate all of the feedback I am getting. I am so glad I joined CLN!
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    Bob Haskins > Sandy Blakney March 29, 2024 10:57

    Hi Sandy. We have been using TinyCat for the past two years. I don't have any knowledge of Handy Library or Surpass. TinyCat is ok. I believe it is $8 a month. It has a nice interface that is easy to read and use. All in all we have been pleased. However, there are some drawbacks with it. In some cases you have very little control over what is shown on the resources description page. For example, you cannot edit the description that comes with the book from the downloaded MARC record. Usually that's not necessary, but at times it can be over hyped if the description comes from the publisher's marketing department, has got numerous misspellings or odd characters, or not even about the book you're viewing. You can turn the description field off, but only for all the books at once, not individual ones. Also, you cannot edit the subject field. Here is a link to our catalog (https://www.librarycat.org/lib/CFBC). You can look at a few of the descriptions to see whether that would be a problem for you. Let me know if you have any other questions.

    

    TinyCat
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    Ann Johnson > Bob Haskins April 2, 2024 10:10

    Hi Bob - We get around the subject field problem you describe for TinyCat by choosing our own Subject and putting it in the "Comments" field when we enter a book. Then we set up the TinyCat page, which patrons view, to show our "Comments" field rather than LibraryThing/TinyCat's "Subject" field. (We don't use Dewey but our own subject headings similar to a book store's, so this is our "Shelving Subject".