COMPILATION OF WINNEFOX MEMBER COMMENTS ABOUT

STAFF SUPPORT DURING SIRSI UPGRADE

March 22, 2004

Great job in getting all that shelving done! Special thanks to Vicki, Becky, Jeannie, Kathy G. and the entire WALS staff for all the work that went into getting us this far and for all the work they have yet to do.

Joan Mueller, OPL Assistant Director

March 16, 2004

Karen and Crew-

Congratulations on a very successful day yesterday! We thought things went very well here for 95% of the items checked in.

Thanks-we appreciate your hard work!

Stephen Proces, Director, Neenah Public Library

March 17, 2004

Hi, John;

As always, the tech staff came through for member libraries.  We were up by 10:30 on Tuesday and had everything discharged and shelved by 2:30.  That gave us time to work with the "exceptions" before we opened on Wednesday morning.  We have tried to be supportive of our Winnefox tech people.  I hope that message has come across…We are satisfied with the way the situation is developing.

Karen Petersen, Director, Berlin Public Library

March 18, 2004

John

I agree that everything on our end went better than expected on Tues and all other days. I, not my library, have already sent a flower vase and balloon to the WALS staff. Earlier, I brought chocolate to share during training. I plan on asking the board to send something from the library, when I see a board member or two.

Lucy Hazlewood, Director,

March 18, 2004

John,

This is the email I sent to Karen yesterday; and all of us sincerely mean the kind words. Glitches aside, we're so pleased that things have gone so well. All of them have done a fantastic job!

Karen,

…Overall though, our hats are off to you and the WALS staff--you have done an AMAZING job getting this system up and running and we're so pleased that things have gone smoothly today. Even when there are glitches, you seem to be able to take care of them in a very timely manner.

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU,

Beth Knuth, Director, Wautoma Public Library

March 18, 2004

John,

It's hard to know where to begin thanking the Winnefox and WALS and OPL staff for all the work they put in to get the Sirsi changeover managed with so few problems. They kept our library informed every step of the way and made sure shortcomings in the software were addressed before we accessed the system and made little problems into big ones.

Things in the Sirsi product that needed changing, WALS got changed. There are a few things that still need tweaking but I am confident they will manage those somehow too.

Staff handled software changes in our libraries and training for the new system so well that Sirsi should hire them. At the very least Winnefox should make Sirsi buy the training manuals Winnefox, WALS, and OPL staff put together. They are excellent.

From start to finish, all of the staff members managed a huge project with excellence under difficult circumstances considering the number of libraries to deal with, the skills of staff members at the libraries, and the changes the Sirsi product needed to make it work for us.

Congratulations, kudos, WOW's and HUGE THANK YOU's all around.

Edith Phillips, Director Winneconne Public Library

March 18, 2004

Thanks John for reminding me! I've expressed my appreciation to all of them, at some time or another.... but I will most certainly do it again!  Everyone at Winnefox and OPL have always been there for me when I've needed them in the past few months!...Due to the excellent and may I add, "fun" training from Vickie and Becky, my assistant and I are doing great! Many thanks to all of the excellent staff at the Winnefox System for once again making us look good!

Valerie

Valerie J Husom, Director
Leon-Saxeville Township Library

This was the smoothest I have ever seen a complicated operation go. Thanks to all the people who made it all possible with there hard work and long hours. Here here! To all of you. I hope your days and nights will be better. (Is there a vacation in your future?) Please show this to anyone who wasn't included that should have been included.
Sandy Zuehlke
Coloma Public Library

Via e-card

Dear John, 

I couldn't say enough good things about the hard-working staff that guided us through the Sirsi Migration.  You have staff that has dedication far above and beyond expectations and please convey to them my deep appreciation for their attention to every detail, making the whole transition relatively smooth.  With plenty of help on the PR end of it, our patrons were very cooperative and that also made it all easier on our staff.  Thanks so much and congratulations! 

Linda Steffen, Director

Patterson Memorial Library

Wild Rose

Mr. Nichols

I am the director of the Endeavor Public Library. In most of my duties I like things to stay relatively calm and easy. I get very nervous when someone mentions "change". When we first heard about the change to SIRSI I was scared of the move. We just learned to run on the old program. However, each and everyone one of the tech team, from Karen B. to Pete have been more then a help to us. They are always able to answer a question and show us the correct move. Vicki and Becky have been so wonderful in training us on the procedures in learning the workflows program. Just saying this to you doesn't seem like enough of a praise. I realize that all the wrinkles aren't out with SIRSI and it will take time, but I have complete faith in those people and all the other Winnefox staff who supported them during this transfer.

Being we are so far from Oshkosh sometimes we feel isolated. Thank you for a great staff that keeps us connected.

Sincerely grateful

Suellen Peterson, Director

Endeavor Public Library

Yes, John,  I agree with you. 

All told, I felt that the change over to Sirsi went fairly well.  We could deal with the public on Wednesday "as usual."

The training days with Vicki and Becky were most helpful. They did a great job putting together that training manual and walking all of us through it.  It is an excellent resource to be able to refer to.

I'm sure the Winnefox staff was apprehensive as to whether all the hard work and effort they put into this major project would come off with only minor problems.  And I think that for the most part it did.  The local holds deal is still an ongoing issue but I think that we all couldn't get off scott free on a huge change like this.  So I'm sure it will get sorted out.

Kudos (which the dictionary defines as exceptional achievement) to all the staff at OPL and Winnefox who worked on this.

Lois Potratz,  Director , NFdL Library

John,

I am sure you are receiving a chorus of appreciation for the staff.  Let me add my voice to it too.

The staff really started to shine once the decision to go to Sirsi was made and the implementation was approaching.  The training offered by Vicki and Becky was intense, in-depth and completely inspiring.  I feel that the training set the tone for the entire conversion.  Here at our library we have approached it with the same humor I saw during training.  That humor has made training my own staff much more easy, and set us up for a positive attitude about the conversion.

Now that the conversion has been completed, every question or concern I have approached Karen or Vicki with has been met with professional interest and solutions.  I know that we will continue to work through the quirks that the system has, and I know it will be a success because of the staff that has led us through this.  They are attentive to our needs as libraries, concerned with how the problems are affecting our service to patrons, but most of all, they are supportive to the libraries that are contacting them. 

Tasha Saecker

Caestecker Public Library

Green Lake

WALS and Oshkosh Public Library Staff mentioned to be especially thanked:

Karen Boehning, WALS Technology Coordinator

Karla Smith, WALS Librarian

Pete Hodge, WALS PC Support Specialist

Vicki Vandenberg, OPL Head of Circulation Services

Becky Srubas, OPL Page Supervisor

Jeannie McBeth, OPL PC Support Specialist

Kathy Grace, OPL Head of Cataloging & Technical Services

They would be the first to tell you that there were many other staff that also played extremely important roles in this transition as well. They all did an outstanding job and my thanks go to all of them!