(left to right) John Kennerly and Cathy Miller

New Catalog System at Erskine Library Up and Running

McCain Library at Erskine College and Theological Seminary recently experienced a major "migration" that has nothing to do with the flight of geese we associate with the autumn season. At the library, catalog data is "migrating"–that's a library term– from one system to another.

"What we're looking at is a new library automated system," said McCain Library director John Kennerly. "The company we purchased it from is Endeavor Information Systems, and the product itself is called Voyager. It is a fully integrated library automation system."

The library had outgrown its older Eos International "Q System." "Any child who has ever worn shoes for awhile has had this experience–we just needed a larger size," said Kennerly.

"Voyager will grow with us. It is a high-end system that is going to serve us well in an academic setting.

"By having Voyager in our library, we are joining company with many university and college libraries in the state of Georgia, Auburn University, Princeton Theological Seminary, and many others.

"It is the same system that the Library of Congress uses," Kennerly said. "We are the third school in South Carolina to have Voyager," he said. Coker College and Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary are the other two.

Once the library was committed to the Voyager system, Kennerly and library systems manager and webmaster Cathy Miller traveled to Chicago and spent a couple of days with the Voyager staff planning how to move McCain records to the new system.

"Then later on, last summer, the entire staff spent a week in training here, learning how to use the new system," Kennerly said. "Once the students got back we trained our student workers in the use of the system. We also tried to promote it heavily in the library instruction sessions we had this year. "

Much of the training on Voyager with students has occurred in a one-on-one setting, Kennerly said. "Right now we are just in the phase of educating people about the new catalog.

"We are in the final phase of completely finishing the installation of the system. We have to work on the preparation for the management of acquisitions and then also the management of serials."

Kennerly said the McCain Library staff members are excited about Voyager. "This will affect everything we do. There are different parts of the system to handle circulation, cataloging, system administration, acquisitions, and serials," he said. "And each of these parts 'talk' to each other and are all tied in with one another.

"This is a great improvement for us. We can track an item through our system from the time we order it to when it is on the shelf."

Library patrons will see an increase in the services they receive, Kennerly said. "They will notice a difference, whether they actually walk into the library or are at their computers and can get to Scotty, our online catalog.

"Our search capabilities have increased greatly. You can do the typical author-title-subject search. You can also search by call number, or do a very specific search by journal title.

"A new feature that we haven't had before is that you can browse through what's on reserve by course number, by professor's name, or by department–three different options to see what is on reserve. If it is an electronic item on reserve, you will be able to access it through the catalog."

The online catalog has a different look now, Kennerly said. "There is increased access now–it puts a lot more into the hands of the user."

Kennerly said another advantage of the new system is that periodicals are included. "Our periodicals holding list is available, though calling up an article in a periodical would involve a different database."

"You don't have to log in to use the catalog, but you can go in and access your patron information and find out what you have checked out, and you can renew books online.

"We show your contact information, we keep track of who you are and how to keep in touch with you. If you supply us with an e-mail address, we can send courtesy notices and overdue notices via e-mail," Kennerly said. "Patrons can access other selected regional library catalogs through our catalog. They will eventually be able to access not only other catalogs, but also other databases."

The McCain Library online catalog can be reached at scotty.erskine.edu