ama178 Posted May 19, 2011 Posted May 19, 2011 We are currently looking at upgrading a rather dated Alice LMS to a new one and are leaning towards either Eclipse.net or Oliver. Has any one got views on either of these systems? Did the conversion of the data if you had an upgrade go ok? Have you had any problems with them hosting the DB for you? Any other info that would be of help kindly accepted.
Edu-IT Posted May 19, 2011 Posted May 19, 2011 Just to clarify, are you looking for something in the cloud or on site?
ama178 Posted May 19, 2011 Author Posted May 19, 2011 Either, letting someone else take care of the DB is one less job however there are concerns with reliability and server up time so hosing on site is also being considered.
dhicks Posted May 19, 2011 Posted May 19, 2011 We are currently looking at upgrading a rather dated Alice LMS to a new one and are leaning towards either Eclipse.net or Oliver. You could also try Koha, which is free and open source. 1
john Posted May 19, 2011 Posted May 19, 2011 I'm leaning to MLS's Eclipse.net, I've read too many bad things about Oliver on here so don't fancy spending thousands of pounds on that, where-as fine Eclipse.net had a bad run when it launched (it was premature IMHO) since then if setup right its a great product
jdoyle Posted May 20, 2011 Posted May 20, 2011 I'm just doing a patch install to Eclipse.net to solve yet another problem.... newly catalogued books hijacking the recordsof old books. While I like the tool better than the one we had previously, it has left me disappointed in a number of areas. Reports are plentiful but most are total rubbish (data doesn't add up, sort order is fixed on the wrong field, lack of filtering mechanism in some instances) and despite several prompts back to MLS each new batch is the same pile of poop. Search mechanism is weak. Webparts for Sharepoint sent utilization on our SQL server and IIS box to 100%; they were re-written but are very bland. MLS are over focused on offering Silverlight and external hosting which are of no use to us.
Zenden Posted May 21, 2011 Posted May 21, 2011 You could also try Koha, which is free and open source. openbiblio is another free one and is extremely simple! 2
laserblazer Posted May 21, 2011 Posted May 21, 2011 Thanks for the Open Source suggestions. We currently use Microlibrarian but as discussed on other threads, their annual support costs are outrageous. And I hope they read this and see how they are going to get their golden goose killed and plucked!
doofusdog Posted May 21, 2011 Posted May 21, 2011 we use accessit, i like it. i also like koha because i now one of the maintainers, he's very sharp!
SilverStreak Posted July 7, 2011 Posted July 7, 2011 We use AccessIt and weve had a number of issues. They autoupdated the system and didnt check the prerequisites so the system crashed. After a reinstall they used the default ports rather than the ones that were configured for access via the internet, so that then failed. They didnt seem bothered that they hadnt checked they way the system was set up. We have found the service to be somewhat relaxed when there have been issues and I have had to chase them a number times to get them to repond to helpdesk requests. The program has bugs in it. When you edit data you are doing it "live", in most places there is not a cancel button so you cant go back to the previous settings. The layout is confusing, there are buttons in strange places when you expect them to be grouped with other buttons. The search functionality is rubbish, when you select search "all fields" it doesn't, which means loads of items are missed off the search results. To close a form and move through the system you have to press the red x in the top right corner??? Where is the "close" button? This is shoddy programming. Overall we have not been impressed with the lack of foresight for useability and the nonchalant support.
SHimmer45 Posted July 7, 2011 Posted July 7, 2011 (edited) I'm leaning to MLS's Eclipse.net, I've read too many bad things about Oliver on here so don't fancy spending thousands of pounds on that, where-as fine Eclipse.net had a bad run when it launched (it was premature IMHO) since then if setup right its a great product agreed BIG problems for early adopters.. i dont like the silverlight interface either, does scale well Edited July 7, 2011 by SHimmer45
staylor1972 Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 we use the Heritage system - cant recommend the enough - easy to set up and upgrade and if you do run into any issues you get good support when you need it!
ama178 Posted July 13, 2011 Author Posted July 13, 2011 We fianlly made the decission to go with a hosted eclipse.net solution. we have had it for about 3 weeks now and i must say iam suprised. Everything has just wored briliantly. The support has been there when needed and apart from one muppet have been able to solve all our queries whilst on the phone with them. Click view has inegrated fine and the hardware (biometric scanner and barcode scanner) worked a treat after some minor adjustments to our policies. Even the remote scanner works like a dream. The next step is to integrate CMIS. All in all it has been painless conversion from Alice and so far so good.
elsiegee40 Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 Apparently Schoolbase are developing a web based Library management system... I think it'll be a while before release though
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now