Eclipse 2 - Library management system

[OverWorked]

Does anyone use this in their school?

Eclipse2 from Micro Librarian Systems Ltd. (MLS)

Our Head of English is thinking of investing £2200 in this and has asked for my opinion.

It looks good but we really don't want an expensive white elephant.

I'd welcome any opinions.

Thanks.

[mark]

Use it here - pleased with it - very easy to use and setup, support is good too. We had the fingerprint scanner and bar code reader with it, as a neighbouring school suggested.

We've just catalogued and have yet to install the client onto all school machines for student use. Just the librarian and her minions use it at the moment.

also check these threads:

http://edugeek.net/index.php?name=Fo...hlight=eclipse

http://edugeek.net/index.php?name=Fo...hlight=eclipse

We use it here and it is very good. Tonnes beeter than autolib it replaced.

[plexer]

We have it installed and ingeneral seems to be working ok. We also have the barcode and fingerprint scanner and that works well.

Haven't installed the search software yet as I need to look at it and see how it works. The librarian has the database and software installed on her pc and it backs it up to her user area. Might look at moving the db to the server though.

Support seems good allthough the librarian seems to think I should be able to answer any questions she has about it rather than phoning them.

Ben

[ChrisH]

We use it and it seems fine although I havent had any experience of any other similar packages.

[Ric_]

Used it in my last job and it was great - the perfect mix of usability and features IMHO. Where I am now we use Heritage and it's constantly crashing and seems overly complex. Eclipse is great! (The kids love the fingerprint reader too - helps encourage use of the library).

[richard]

We usen it here and have no problems with it at all.

[Jake]

We use it , only problems we have from time to time revolve around the fingerprint scanner, which has a tendency to flip out now and then and just give us hassle. Most likely due to the librarian using a PC built by Davinci though

[wesleyw]

The searchstar utility works really well and doesn't take anytime at all to setup but if you are gonna change the location of the db then install searchstar after lol!

Wes

[OverWorked]

Thanks everyone. I've also had a look at the other threads and got an idea of what products work and which don't.

I'll recommend Eclipse with the fingerprint scanner.

[steve]

You can use elearning credits to buy it too.

[john]

Saw them at BETT, and TBH me and colleague were more impressed with the AccessIT Library system, seemed far more user friendly, and when i mentioned things like web access etc they didnt shudder at the mention of IIS, Windows, and SQL unlike the Eclipse guys. We are getting them both out at some stage to demonstrate the products, me and the network manger have got our favourite already (AccessIT), but anything is an improvement on the Limes Milennia that we have now.

[OverWorked]

@John,

I haven't heard of AccessIT. I'll look in to that too. Thanks.

[OverWorked]

I've spoke to our Head of English about the comments I've had and he'd like to see Eclipse 2 in action.

Would any Eclipse 2 users be willing to allow us to visit your school for a look? Preferably in the Yorks/Lancs area.

I know you're all busy and promise that we'd keep it as brief as possible.

Thanks very much in advance.

[sahmeepee]

We also have Eclipse2 and the fingerprint scanning gubbins, as well as the door scanner which locks the doors when someone tries to do a bunk with a book (perhaps that belongs in the ICT white elephants thread!).

We've had a few database corruption problems with Eclipse 2, which has either meant sending our database off to eclipse to get it cleaned up or running fix tools they send us. Their tech support is pretty clueless and the person we spoke to contradicted herself about 5 times during one support case. The problems were sorted in the end though, so it's not all bad news.

As for usability, the librarians and their little helpers seem to find it quite simple to use and featureful. No complaints there.

I'll PM you if our librarian fancies showing you our setup.