Fire the asshole who took away our *DINGS*!

patrons are complaining to us constantly about the new system. they are having a hard time using it at home. the system cancelled many of their holds when it switched over; they cannot determine where they are in the hold queue; it is a difficult system to manage. also, we have found that patrons have checked out books on Horizon and they have disappeared off their cards. some not only have disappeared but have also been kicked out of the system and must be recatalogued. when we print our holds lists and search for books, half of them are not on the shelves yet they are listed as AVAILABLE (and who decided to change the perfecly good CHECKED-IN for AVAILABLE?). we have found that these books are probably on a hold shelf somewhere in CLAN, or on a patrons card.

i feel sorry that many patrons are vexed by the new system but i am tired of being hollered at and i am tired of explaining that we are struggling, too. besides, LIBRARY STAFF did not write the new program. supposedly, actual librarians were consulted. they must have been really stupid librarians or librarians that have no idea how circulation works. it is truly evil. not circulation, Millennium!

one little thing that we lost was the little *ding* that warned us that a message just popped up like 'this book is on hold for...' or a zillion little things. for instance, when we ran through a patrons card in Horizon, if the patron had a message or fines, we would hear a *ding* that would alert us right away. if we were to checkout an audio book to a patron we would hear a *ding* letting us know how many CDs were in the case. when the item was returned, we could check it in and hear the same *ding*, stop and clear the screen. now we must keep our eyes on the screen constanty, or we could checkin and item with a message, miss the message and continue checking in items that are not really getting checked in because that damn message sits on the screen until we are alerted to it and cancel it. we really relied on the audio cues. they made our work faster and more effficient. so, who was the asshole who took away our DINGS?! i want you fired, buddy. FIRED!