Alexandria

Excellent Customer Online Support

Pros:

To begin with, I just admire the customer support round the clock that they give. It's so hard to get stuck that for instance, you have to wait on their working hours, no! They got my needs. Cataloging is so superb and one can be in control of the software by navigating across panes easily.

Cons:

I have not seen any cons yet, I have been using it for trial and I loved it.

Alexandria is the BEST library circulation system EVER!

Comments: I used Follett's Destiny, in another school district, and I also have many years experience working in public libraries. I have to say that I much prefer Alexandria to Destiny. I wasn't a fan of Destiny. I didn't like the small fonts used, and in a lot of ways it wasn't customer friendly. It is as good, if not better than circulation programs I've used in public libraries. The thing I really appreciate about Alexandria, other than the fact that it is a great system, is their AMAZING tech support! When I've needed something, they've helped me every step of the way. They have assisted me many times, and have gone above and beyond to make sure that I'm successful using Alexandria.

Pros:

Everything on Alexandria is very quick, and it is so easy to use. The size of the fonts for names/titles when checking students' books out, and checking them in is large, so reading glasses aren't needed. Multiple reports are available, and you can also import/export when downloading new students' info, which means it takes only minutes to add new classes to the system, instead of typing in information. Additionally, I love that the scanning of titles and student barcodes is so fast. Everything scans the first time in a nano second!

Cons:

Nothing at all! It is a great system and I can't think of anything I'd suggest be changed.

Choose Carefully

Comments: This software has been in use in my district for many years. Overall, since it is cheap, it was the one we decided on and we drank the kool-aid in believing that the company would go above and beyond to help us.
Unfortunately, customer service is not always helpful and the support people know little to nothing about .mrc records.
Somewhat disappointing when you compare it to the big companies.

Alexandria library software for our High School

Comments: Recently we added classroom collections of all of our English department teachers. This should have been done as the books were added over the years, but it was not. Our teachers were quite reluctant to have to learn new software and all, but now that it's done they think it's pretty slick! They love that they can find a title in another classroom if they don't have a copy themselves.

Pros:

Alexandria offers so many things. It's a great way to organize our collection and know immediately whether we have an item, where it is, and whether it's available. I can fine-tune reports so I can zero in on exactly what I need to know. I can personalize fields and settings, and I can set permissions to restrict how much information others in our building can access or edit. Tech support is top notch! They address my questions and concerns with clarity and with respect, even when I feel I may have a silly question. I've learned much about Alexandria by calling tech support with a few questions and then hearing them explain a better way to do what I'm trying to do.

Cons:

Maybe a con is that Alexandria is capable of doing so much that I am not even aware of.

User Friendly Reliable Library System

Comments: My experience has been great. The program is reliable and consistent. I love the organization of it and appreciate the willingness of the company to constantly be making improvements and updates. It's a great software program.

Pros:

We just upgraded to Version 7 and I appreciate how seamless and easy the conversion was. The program is so user friendly and nine times out of ten, I can "play" around with things and find exactly what I need. Any time I have an issue and have contacted technical support, they have responded immediately. The other thing I love about Alexandria is their willingness to take the suggestions from the user to improve the operations. I think it is a great program and I hope we always have it in my library.

Cons:

This is a very trivial con, but I wish that version 7 gave us the ability to add a picture to the generic patron image. I know they are working on it, but my kids loved seeing the seasonal images I would put up for them. I was having trouble with the holds, but after talking to our tech support, it was fixed.