Action for Libraries

              JANUARY, 1987
Volume XIII, No, 1
X
ACTION FOR LIBRARIES
52~\, YEAR OF SERVICE TO LIBRARIES
ISSN: 0363-0250 \ Editor: Joyce Coyne
Assistant Editor: Mary Flowers
c
BCR Announces New
Connections Service!
by Gretchen Redfield
The technical support service that library networks pro~
vide to their members is rapidly changing and growing. More
libraries are getting more heavily involved in installing new
systems, whether it be for circulation, public access catalogs
or new CD~ROM based systems. As a result, librarians are
dealing with one or more automation produce vendors on a
regular basis. This is a new experience for many librarians,
and each library offers a new situation for the vendor as well.
In order to aid our member libraries in dealing with this
lengthy, complex, and often tedious process, BCR has
initiated a new service called Connections.
Connections service is aimed at providing a BCR Member
Services Librarian to coordinate and mediate between the
vendor and library when the library has decided to imple­ment
an automation project.
There are three major reasons for contracting for
Connections:
L Informal technical support is provided for the
library, as well as the vendor chosen by the library for their
particular project. The technical support is provided with
each library's situation in mind. This is particularly impor~
tant where bibliographic tape products are involved in circu~
lation and OPACS, as well as in mastering CD-ROM
databases.
2. Time savings. We have been working with libraries
and automated projects for years. The expertise and knowl~
edge of the long term background and tape profile history of
each of our member libraries enables us to save both the
library and the vendor a great deal of time and effort, In most
projects, saving time means saving money.
3. Library advocacy role. Dealing with a new vendor and
a new jargon can be a daunting experience for a library. We
take an interest in the library's current and future concerns,
and serve to insure that those specific concerns are reflected
in vendor~provided products and services. We see this as a
simple extension of the advisory role that BCR has played vis
a vis OCLC for the last decade,
f
A flyer con~er ing Connections is contained in this news~
letter. For fu .. er inforr~1ation and costs, please contact
""1:>eborah B ne or Gretchen Redfield at BCR,
MicroSystems and Services
Update
by James Speed Hensinger
MicroSystems & Services is now able to extend some very
significant new discount pricing.
SuperCalc4 by Computer Associates is one of the most
powerful spreadsheet programs available. It has many fea~
tures that make it better than Lotus 1-2-3, BCR has been
using SuperCalc since version 1 was introduced in 1981.
Features of SuperCalc4
• NOT copyprotected
• Faster recalculation than Lotus
• Faster template design than Lotus
• More math functions than Lotus
• Integrated graphics (Lotus doesn't)
• Macros executable as a program
• Macros in a cell or a file
• Able to read, use, and write Lotus v.1 and v.2 files
PRICE!! List $495,B C R ~ $88
,! ,
"
Computer Associates also publishes Super Writer which
lists for $295 with a BCR price of $88,
Super Writer is not as sophisticated a program as WordPerfect
which is also available at a significant savings from BCR.
WordPerfect 4,2 lists for $495 and BCR's price is $125,
Computer Associates also publishes the Easy Business
Systems accounting software. This is a very powerful system
that we at BeR are using for our general ledger and accounts
payable, Each module (there are twelve) lists for $595 to
$795 and BCR's price is $88 each,
ENABLE by The Software Group is a totally integrated
software system that provides five major business productiv~
ity tools: word processing, spreadsheet, graphics, database
(continued next page)
A NON.PROFIT, MULTI·STATE LIBRARY SERVICES COOPERATIVE