Library people/teachers

[jackie011]

I would like to start a lending system for our preschool library.  The previous "librarian" just retired at the end of 2012 and now it's my job.  I'm excited about it, but she was very old school- lots of lists and index cards to sort through.  I'd like to bring us into the 21st century and put the collection on a computer and would love some type of check out/in system for the teachers.  A friend suggested a website called collectorz, but I was wondering if there is a better system for a school setting?  The children would not be checking out books, just teachers, and I'd be lucky to get half of them to even use the system.  (Right now teachers just come in, search the shelves by topic, grab a stack of books and return them at some point- it would be hard to break that habit, I'm afraid)

There is grant money out there within our organization (we're part of a community center campus) and I could probably secure between $750-1000 but I'd need to purchase a laptop, printer, software, and possibly a scanner, if necessary.  Any suggestions? 

[joenali]

We use Destiny Quest.

[moolarkey]

I would suggest looking at Koha - it is an open source system and I don't think there are any fees. Destiny is provided by a for-profit corporation so there will be fees. Note I have no idea what any ILS system costs so possibly Destiny is quite reasonable. There may be other free, open-source systems but Koha is the only one that comes to mind right now. You might contact ALA (American Library Association) and ask them if they can tell you of low cost/free ILS for institutions such as yours.

[moolarkey]

I don't know that you would need the scanner but you might want a bar code reader (unless that is what you meant by a scanner).

[justkeepswimming]

Maybe a Smartphone app could take the place of the scanner/bar code reader? (I know, not really helpful, but it's all I've got!)

[grover]

Jan 20, 2013 15:44:16 GMT -5 joenali said:

We use Destiny Quest.

My district also uses this.

[jackie011]

For my personal library at home I've used Booksource's Classroom Organizer, which uses a bar code reader on my smart phone. I'm not volunteering my personal smart phone for this project! Also, most of our books come from Scholastic and do not have a bar code, so it wouldn't save me any time as far as entering information.

I'll check out the programs you've mentioned. I'm just getting started, so open to any other suggestions!

[moolarkey]

I guess I was thinking you would create and print labels with your laptop & printer that would go on the books that would have bar codes on them.