News from DS

Citation

(2002), "News from DS", Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 36 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/prog.2002.28036aab.003

News from DS

News from DS

Poll of local authority IT managers shows that DS is the best library supplier

The Society of IT Management (SOCITM) has published the third Application Software Index 2001, which provides a comprehensive picture of suppliers and their performance in a wide range of local government departments, including libraries.

The index summarises 109 responses, representing approximately 50 per cent of library authorities. ICT managers were asked to rate their library systems on three key aspects of customer satisfaction. DS and its Galaxy system are the clear winners, coming top in all three categories with scores of 86 per cent for software reliability, 84 per cent for application functionality and 76 per cent for supplier performance.

Following last year's top ranking in the same survey, DS staff are delighted with this independent and objective assessment of their performance. Managing director Nigel Pegg says: "It is very gratifying to come top for the second year running but we are certainly not complacent. We will continue to focus on improving both customer service and the quality of our products."

Epsom has new Library and Learning Centre

The newest library in Surrey opened recently in Epsom. It is an integral part of the newly constructed Ebbisham Centre, which includes the Library and Learning Centre, a GP surgery, a Lifestyle Cardiovascular Gym, and café. The centre will soon house a crèche, a children's play area called The Zone, a resource centre for elderly residents, the Spa Lounge for meetings and local groups and businesses, and a public car-park – not to mention the swimming-pool on the floor above the library.

The new building fulfils promises made over many years to replace the old library in the town centre and it serves a population of nearly 70,000 people. Within the first four weeks of opening the library boosted its borrower numbers by 50 per cent, increasing its 4,000 borrowers to nearly 6,000.

It stocks 65,000 books and approximately 5,000 CDs and DVDs for loan in addition to many CD-ROMs for use in the library. Epsom is the second learning centre in Surrey implemented by DS, developer of the county's Galaxy library system, providing ten additional personal computers for public access. DS has also supplied 69 PCs in the library and other parts of the Ebbisham Centre in addition to barcode scanners, slip printers, laser printers, inkjet printers, a flat-bed scanner and a CD-ROM network.

DS was appointed to start work in December 2000 and the Centre opened on time in May 2001. Graham Combe, area manager for Surrey Community Services, states: "Confidence that DS would supply a good quality solution was not misplaced."

Epsom will soon be implementing the DS Resource Booking system that will manage the booking of individual resources like PCs and meeting rooms and integrate fully with other library software.

World's largest medical research charity selects CALM 2000

The Wellcome Trust Ltd has signed a contract with DS Ltd for purchase of CALM for Archives software to be supplied to the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine. CALM includes accessions facilities (including prompted workflow), hierarchical archival cataloguing, loans, movement control, bookings and production, a Web access module (DServe) and image management facilities.

Julia Sheppard, head of Special Collections in the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine, said: "The Wellcome Library has, over many years, acquired archives and manuscripts of great importance to the history of medicine. There are more than 600 archival collections of personal papers, records of societies, associations and organisations and businesses, as well as over 8,000 manuscripts from the eleventh century onwards. Finding aids to most of these holdings are currently available only in the form of lists and hard copy published catalogues.

"For some time we have been looking for an automated system to open up our archival holdings and improve access to them. The data need to be in a format that meets international archival standards of description. With CALM we will improve searching on-site and via the Web, and the system will facilitate our participation in the increasing number of archival network projects. Crucially, the new system is compatible with our own library system, which is accessible on our Web site. This ability to cross-search archives and library records via Z39.50 is an essential part of the package being delivered by DS.

"Data will also be transferred from our existing in-house collection administration database in order to manage our holdings. Images are to be mounted on the database and linked to our Medical Photo Library Digitisation Project.

"CALM offers us solutions in all these areas as well as having a good track record with its user group and within the archive community. We are delighted therefore that we can now move forward with the retrospective conversion of catalogues and start inputting data for mounting on the Web. We are excited at the prospect of being able to disseminate information about our rich holdings and look forward to encouraging greater use of these unique resources."

For further information please contact: DS Marketing Department, 2 Cedar Office Park, Cobham Road, Ferndown, Wimborne, Dorset BH21 7SB, UK. Tel: +44 (0) 1202 877188; Fax: +44 (0) 1202 871297; E-mail: marketing@ds.co.uk; URL: www.ds.co.uk