The best method and most economical way of setting up a small church library.

Handy Library Manager application for Windows

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What is the recommended the best method and most economical way of setting up a small church library?

Trying to set up a small church library (around 1,000 titles) and while I am not adverse to having a stand alone system was contemplating having the main data base sit on the church computer so it would get backed up on a regular basis and only have a terminal (laptop, tablet) that church members could use to self check in/out their items and search titles to protect the main data base from possible corruption. Is this configuration possible with either the Small Church Library Organizer pro or the Handy Library Manager or can you recommend the best method and most economical way of setting up either of these programs. The budget is very limited (<$1,200) to purchase hardware, software as well as other library supplies. Thanks in advance!!

Having said that Handy Library Manager is almost exactly in the format I had envisioned the system to work as I can see on my desktop the icon for self circulation and searching. Was wondering whether the Handy Library Manager could:
1. be accessed from home so that I could do the database maintenance (add, edit items and borrowers) etc without being physically present at the church?? 2. in the event the church wants to start putting their inventory items into a data base format, could you set up a new library in the Handy Library Manager for this purpose?

A: See our guide on how much does it cost to manage small church library. We don't offer labels and scanners, you can purchase them at your local office (Staples) store or on the web. See our help topic with the list of labels, scanners, and printers you can use with our software.

If you want to connect your laptop with the desktop server you need network version ($200). Software offers flexible backup feature, you can protect your data.

You can use the software on your home computer. You will have to run backup and restore procedure to move the same database between your home and church computers.

It appears that the Handy Library Manager software requires us to assign a number to each borrower and that is how we enter items they check out (rather than entering their name). Is that correct? If so, that software will not meet our needs.
Will your library software allow us to print sets of labels for new additions that include a spine label plus a circulation and pocket label?
In the Check out process can we enter a borrower name and a barcode for the item? (The examples show borrower name and item title or borrower number and item barcode but not a "mix.")
In the Check Integrity section it says that "Library items with duplicate names are not allowed." Does that mean we can't have multiple copies of the same title; or do they just need to have different barcodes?

A: You can enter names and barcodes. You can print library labels on any label type. Check in and out feature includes names, titles, and barcode numbers.

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