Some Customer Quotes

Some genuine comments from our users, a number unsolicited.

Pip Black, Timaru Girls High School

I have found my happy place without it costing thousands.

Robin Achmad, Library Manager, Green Bay High School (via e-mail)

We have been using Athenaeum at Green Bay High School
library for the past two and a half years and are more than
happy with the catalogue system. I have found the system to
be excellent, easy to use and very reliable. I would have no
hesitation in recommending it to other library staff.

The previous catalogue systems that I have used have not had
the functionality or ease of use that I find with Athenaeum.
Back up support is only an e-mail or phone call away and the
reply is always prompt and efficient. No annual fees are
charged which means more money available to spend on other
library operations.

Two years ago I purchased a Blue-Tooth scanner to use for
the annual stock take and found that it worked well with
Athenaeum. The entire stock take procedure and report to the
school auditors is so much easier using Athenaeum.

Joanna Baynes, Librarian, King's School, Remuera, Auckland (via e-mail)

We have had Athenaeum for about ten years now. We find
that Athenaeum is very versatile particularly in its search
functions. The boys like the fact that they need only type a
part of a word from author, title, subject, series or notes
for the computer to search all those fields - no need to
know how to spell the exact word or phrase. Once a set has
been found then the results can be manipulated allowing them
to quickly find the specific item required. There is also
the ability to use the detailed search if necessary though I
find that his is seldom used.

I find it easy to sort the boys into various borrower
categories and thus to set specific limits on borrowing
privileges dependent on year group and sometimes even on
their ability (or lack thereof) to manage their own loans!
It makes it a 'no-brainer' when a multitude of helpers do
issues and returns. Reserving books is a function that is
used heavily. The boys appreciate having books kept aside
for them, and know that even if a large number of boys
reserve a particular item their turn will eventually
come.

I have found that Athenaeum has been a sound financial
investment, being very competitively priced and with
excellent, very prompt support, though to be honest we need
it very seldom. We are very satisfied Athenaeum users.

Corinne Hinton, Library Manager, Kings College, Auckland (via web-forum)

Coming to NZ from England, Athenaeum is the only system
that I have used over here. Having said that, I think it is
a system that is easy to navigate, with a clear and simple
interface, and our students have no problems with the
"Search" facility.

In my experience the system support is excellent -
whether I use e-mail or the phone, the response time has
always been impressive. As a busy Librarian, always trying
to finish that last item on my "to do" list I am probably
guilty of not making the most of all the valuable
information that is sent our way for example in the
Newsletters.

Carl W Feucht, Librarian, Indianhead International School, South Korea

(extracts from an unsolicited e-mail Carl copied to us with permission to reproduce here)

Athenaeum Pro won me over this year!

I've just spent the past year administering a 15,000 item
collection using this automation system, a system which I'd
never even heard of before I began my job, and I can
honestly say, I am more than impressed by what this system
is capable of doing. So much so in fact, that It truly seems
every bit as capable and feature rich as the Sirsi Dynix
catalog which I had grown familiar with during a stint at
the US Marine Corps libraries in Hawai'i a few years ago.
The only feature which it lacks is a serials module.

..Value such as this is rare, I think, and it continually
impresses me how feature rich the package is at that price.
Circulations stats, reserves, holds, stock take, acquisition
costs by year, reports on depreciation, you name it it does
it. During the course of this year I've probably emailed the
developer a half-dozen inquiries and quickly gotten answers
back, too.

I earned my MLISc in 2004, at the University of Hawai'i,
where one of my most enjoyable classes was library
automation. Our professor set an ambitions agenda that had
us surveying the entire landscape of automation systems and
comparing them feature for feature. We even wrote model RFPs
to prepare for our future careers. I came out of that class
sure that there were but a few dominant players and
expecting fewer as the years went by.