Parsons Public Library

Library Elf

In the last month I had a library user ask if it was possible to use Library Elf with our online card catalog. Sadly, I had to say no, but I am hoping that by this time next year you will be able to use Library Elf (a bit of software that sends you email reminders about your overdue books) and do many other things with your library account than has been possible in the past. One of my goals for the past several years has been to make our library catalog available via the internet. Two of the main hangups for quite awhile were money and security concerns. Thanks to grant money from the State Library of Kansas, the assistance of the Southeast Kansas Library System and a generous offer from Pittsburg State University's Axe Library to host our data on their server and use their circulation and catalog software we should be migrating to a new system next September. Our online catalog should be very similar to this or this depending on how we decide to configure our system. Each library user will be able to set up their own personal account, place their own holds or requests for books and many other things. In order to move to the new system from what we have now is going to take a lot of work on our end. We are already getting our collection ready to be re-barcoded which means taking each one of our 65,000 + items off of the shelf and putting a new barcode on it. We are also going to be updating some of our computers, getting new barcode scanners, adding a new feature for us called receipt printers and learning how to work with a completely new system. The staff and I are excited about all of the changes coming up and ready to tackle this big job. I hope the users of Parsons Public Library will see the benefits once we have everything in place.

I was just reading some of our posts from a year ago and came across this. It looks like the dream is becoming a reality.

posted by Anonymous @ 7:26 AM