More on SkyRiver

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Jane Richard, from WiLS, has this to add:

LLS had a huge cut in materials budget; last year she was processing 2000/month, this year it's 200/month


That, along with key retirement in cataloging (Mary Lou Norstrom), brought this decision to drop OCLC and switch to SkyRiver.

Steve Ohs said that admin is THRILLED because OCLC was $43,000/year and SR is $11,500. This is an annual fee. There is no obligation to add holdings. SR is also very attentive to their feedback (better than OCLC). they were unsure how much volume this represented (i.e. how much cataloging they do or records they download)

LSS has a formula to pass the costs/divvy the costs among libraries

LSS will use WisCat for ILL; still some questions, tho

There are different levels of authorization, which I think are set up by the library, not SR

There is a SR listserv

They can make labels pretty easily

LSS batching catalog to SR and holdings will be added and SR#s attached to records

LSS will use those as the local control number

They have not addressed holdings cancellations

can't see which library owns titles, but you can see how many [I found that part of the display confusing, but I came in late and maybe missed the explanation]

the Sirsi-Dynix Z39.50 interface (SmartPort) works with SR


Database:

• new items often lack bib records

• you can request that SR find and/or add a record for a particular item-- there's a form to fill out and send. They contact you "in a few days"

• you can also create a record that goes to SR for review. You can create it at any level of cataloging

• There are few or no records for realia/toys, tho there are video games

• I thought there were a fair number of duplicate records, but I didn't study

• OCLC numbers are retained in the records when present

• 040 is retained too


Interface:

• Ann feels that it's easier to use than Connexion, less cluttered; she's frustrated by the lack of current records

• She likes that you can specify that certain fields are highlighted in records-- for instance, 245, 260, 300 so clerks doing the searching can focus on those to determine matches

• has its own macro language

• the faceted searching looks like WorldCat.org

• validates fields

• MARC help is available

• New advanced search:

• Au-Ti-kw

• boolean

• format

• language


Someone asked about the SkyRiver-OCLC lawsuit, and it seems to be in the paper-chase stage; follow it HERE.


Jane's comments: Like Alison, I came away thinking that SkyRiver is the most serious competitor to OCLC around. It's really hard to beat the price, and if a library only needs bib records, then it probably is a good choice.

OCLC's cost is getting to be beyond the budget of typical public libraries, even CatExpress is about $1/record and it looks like SR is more like $.30-$.50? but I have big reservations--

1) time spent looking for, requesting and/or creating records for new items, tied in with

2) locally edited catalogs.

3) Sharable holdings and inter-library loan. I have to defer to others in this discussion though

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