City of Wolverhampton College is a large further education college, formed from the merger of two colleges in 1999. It occupies eight sites around Wolverhampton and South Staffordshire and has three large, well-equipped Learning Centres with a stock of over 80,000 items.

What range of media do you hold in your library? Is it all catalogued on Heritage?

We hold books, journals, DVDs, videos, CDs, audio cassettes, computer software, E-books, multimedia kits, maps, posters, PDFs and websites. It is all catalogued on Heritage.

Can you remember where you first heard about Heritage? Did you look at our website before contacting us?

We looked at several operating systems before deciding on Heritage. We had demonstrations from 3 suppliers, at which both LC and ICT staff were present; we compiled a list of requirements (both definite requirements and ‘wish-list’) and all had a sheet to give marks for a variety of aspects. I can’t remember looking at the website (but it’s lost in the mists of time…….).

What were you looking for in a library management system? What were your priorities?

The system had to be user-friendly, flexible, not UNIX-based, provide reports and offer an ability to customise pages (e.g. the OPAC).

Why did you choose Heritage over the other systems you were considering?

Primarily it was user-friendliness, price and compatibility with other IT systems used in college.

What are your overall impressions of ISOxford staff (this includes Sales, Training and Support staff, plus any Developers you may have dealt with)?

Everyone that I have dealt with has been very helpful (and patient with me when I have floundered). The balance seems to have shifted from Librarians to IT staff, and this is sometimes noticeable both in terms of the expectation of knowledge eg IT jargon / shortcuts etc, and in deciding what is important / useful when using Heritage.

What did you think of the Heritage training?

The training was excellent. We had two sessions of basic training, which was undertaken by all LRC staff, and then two more sessions, one on serials and one on management. This got us off to a good start, and we have been able to build on this over the years.

How have you found the support service from IS staff?

Very good indeed. The facility for direct entry to the main server is useful – and the 'Remote Support' facility, giving the Support team the ability to take control of my mouse to help to work out what problem is occurring is extremely useful and saves a lot of time.

Have you used the support website? How useful did you find it?

The website is very useful – the overhaul that took place this year refreshed the look of the page – unfortunately, it made finding the Helpsheet that you wanted really difficult – scrolling through 12 pages of abstracts was a real pain… I thought it was just me, but after hearing comments on Marvin and at the HUG Day, this has been taken up and has been revised as just titles – as it was before the upgrade – which is really useful and much more user-frienddy.

Are you a member of Marvin, our list server? Do you find Marvin a useful service?

Yes and yes. It’s a quick and easy way to ask questions which may have a really simple answer – which another user can usually provide really quickly. It has the added bonus of making you realise that it isn’t only you that gets confused…..!

How has Heritage improved the day-to-day running of the library and services offered to your users?

Much easier catalogue searching from the users point of view. Quicker to catalogue items so that they are on the shelves in shorter processing time.

What are your favourite features in Heritage?

The 'Recent records' icon that allows you to jump to records you accessed recently (e.g. at the issue desk); being able to go into a specific accession record from the loans page; the reports (infinitely flexible and accommodating..!) and the stocktake menu, which is very easy to set up and operate.

Have you linked Heritage to any other systems in your institution, such as Moodle, Sharepoint, Aquabrowser, MyPC, Txtools, Screenreader software, a management information system or similar? If so, any comments about the integration process or success of the integration?

We import reader data each morning by using a data extraction program which takes data from the main enrolment system and makes a file which is then downloaded into Heritage. Although we do this manually, it only takes a few minutes and works well. The Heritage catalogue is also embedded into every page of our VLE (Blackboard).

Do you have any other comments you would like to make about ISOxford or Heritage? Would you recommend it/us to other libraries?

Yes, we would recommend Heritage to others, as your support service and ‘personal touch’ are really helpful.

City of Wolverhampton College have been using Heritage since 2003. They currently have unlimited full access licences, the Serials Management Module (including Acquisitions), the Reader Import Module, the Server Performance Pack, the Fines Module, the Marc21 Import & Export Module, the Quickcat Online Module and Heritage Online (Large).