McHENRY, IL - June 2, 1997 - Arizona's Mesa Unified School District has selected Follett Software Company, the nation's leading provider of K-12 microcomputer library automation software, as its new library automation vendor. The Unified School District is the largest school district in Arizona, and considered one of the top 50 districts in the United States. It encompasses 69 schools at the K-12 level, serving more than 70,000 students.
Each of the Mesa Unified schools will be installing Follett Software's Circulation Plus software for automated circulation and inventory functions, and Catalog Plus, for its MARC-based (MAchine Readable Cataloging) on-line public access catalog (OPAC). The library automation vendor, also a leading data provider, will perform retrospective conversions of the district's data to make it compatible with the new OPAC software.
Because the district has a combination of Macintosh and IBM-compatible workstations, each of the schools will also be installing Follett Software's MacSearch Plus Station. MacSearch Plus Station is an add-on module to Catalog Plus which provides information access solutions with cross-platform functionality. Patrons will be able to access the OPAC from DOS, Windows, or Macintosh computers in the library, classrooms, and labs.
Implementation of the new automation and curriculum software will occur in phases, the first of which began in May and will continue throughout the summer. Phase one will end with 14 of the district's school libraries up-and-running with the new software by the start of the 1997-98 school year. In August of this year, Follett Software will be training representatives from the 14 schools on the new programs.
"We're excited to be switching to Follett. Their programs are very user-friendly, especially for children, and will enable us to provide practical, effective technology to students and staff at all grade levels," noted Bev Potter, the district's Director of Library Services. "The programs contain many processes which will directly benefit our librarians, such as being able to fully access our collections by author, title, subject, series, and keywords with full Boolean search capabilities, and with the capability of limiting the searches by reading level, interest level, publication date, and materials type (books, videos, etc.). This change will help us bring our students and community improved learning opportunities and better use of the libraries that we're all looking forward to."
About Follett Software Company
Since 1985, Follett Software Company has provided school, public and special libraries with leading-edge library automation, Internet and curriculum resource software and services. Its Circulation Plus software, with more than 29,000 installations worldwide, is the number one selling library automation system in the K-12 marketplace. Follett Software Company is a division of Follett Corporation, and is headquartered in McHenry, IL. The company was recently ranked among the top ten largest software companies in Chicago. For additional information, call (800) 323-3397 or go to www.fsc.follett.com.
Contact
Celeste Sentman
Follett Software Company
(800) 323-3397 or (815) 344-8700, ext. 7205
csentman@fsc.follett.com
