Socrate, description

Description and functionalities

What is Socrate 4 Windows ?

It is in the first place a great, complete and simple to use, solid and fully equipped library management software. The price is all inclusive !

Is Socrate ergonomic ?

Yes. All screens have been designed for use with or without a mouse… Barcode readers are supported !

Can Socrate be customized to the specific situation of my library?

Yes. It has a large number of unlimited parameter tables.

Does Socrate support the cataloguing of periodicals?

Yes. There are specific fields for this type of information.

Does Socrate support a toy library ?

Yes, version 2011 of Socrate supports numerous data related to toy records.

Does Socrate support decentralized sublibraries?

Yes. It is possible, for each catalogue record or for every reader, to fill in an library code, a different sublibrary code and a lending count system.

Does Socrate support multiple lending fees?

Yes. You can create fees based on the reader, the age category, the type of material, the price, the entry date. Moreover, it is possible to fix priorities between these criteria.

Does Socrate support multiple POS (points of sale)?

Yes. You can create as many POS and as many lending desks as you like. Each POS can be linked to the person managing the lending desk.

Is Socrate multi-currency?

Yes. The purchase price of materials (books) can be entered in the original currency. The conversion to local currency is carried out automatically by means of a currency table.

Is Socrate multilingual?

Yes, there is a language code for most inputs: books, readers, authors, etc...

Is the lending and reservation process simple?

Yes, very simple. All transactions take place in the same module, giving an overview of current loans and reservations, record details of the reader and the lended and/or reserved materials. A lending ticket can be printed.

Can Socrate really take me by the hand?

Socrate is in the first place an assistant, who forgets nothing. Help messages take you through every step. Every field comes with a help text to tell you what the field is for. There are also messages to remind you of outstanding readers' debts, available and non available reservations, etc…

What about the support of Socrate?

The library is invited to subscribe to an annual maintenance and support contract. The maintenance contract entitles the user to telephone support and free downloads of the latest Socrate versions from the Internet during the period covered by the maintenance contract.

I am looking for a modern and fast cataloguing system, can Socrate offer it?

Yes. The catalogue record is complete and easy to fill in since it is based on a series of tables: authors, secondary authors, CDU-Dewey, subject, collections, editors, which make it easy to rapidly fill in a catalogue record… Inputting records is made even more easy through import from several CD's - BNF, Electre, Unimarc - and from our website www.bibliotheque.be, which contains more than 1 million ready-to-use catalogue records.

Does Socrate offer tools to help the reader look up materials in the catalogue?

The full-text and real-time indexing function provides the reader with a real, Internet-like search engine. He can immediately look up any word in the entire catalogue and/or in the biographies of authors, secondary authors, CDU-Dewey and subject fields. Indexed words are listed in a directory.

Does Socrate provide all necessary elements to set up official statistics?

Yes. The entire database is questionable and calculation elements in lending statistics are memorized without time limit..

How detailed is the statistics function?

There are specific codes related to loans, readers or media to generate cross counts. This makes it possible to follow up and calculate the impact of a purchase campaign on the lending activity!

Can Socrate import external catalogues?

Yes. Socrate supports Unimarc imports and can be used with CD's such as BNF or Electre or import records from our website www.bibliotheque.be

Can Socrate import external readers?

Yes. The import function is based on delimited text files. An other extensive and Excel-based import function offers lots of possibilities. Imports and updates of teachers' and pupils' management are easy to do.

Can Socrate export its data to other software?

Yes. The entire database is exportable. It is a truly open database. Export in Unimarc format is supported.

Does Socrate support library deposit centres or locations ?

Yes it does. As many locations as necessary can be defined. All loans, reservations and activities in the library are always statistically linked to a location or a deposit centre or to any other notion of origin.

Does Socrate offer access security?

Socrate deals with its own security. The library manager can assign a number of well-defined rights to each user… The number of users is not limited by Socrate, but by the power level of your computer…

Does Socrate offer backup functions?

Yes. Socrate has a compressed backup function to save your data. Backups can be made on tape streamers, zips, writeable CD's, a hard disk on another PC…

Is Socrate compatible with all Windows platforms?

Yes. Socrate runs all Windows 7 ou 8 ou 10 32 and 64 bit platforms.

What server does Socrate need to operate in a network?

A simple Windows 7 ou 8 ou 10 dedicated workstation can do the job. From 5-6 workstations on however, we recommend a real 2008 ou 2012 server. A Linux server with Samba network management is a valid and economic alternative. A NAS solution from Synology offers speed and reliability for a very limited investment ... Our preference goes to the latter solution, even for network environments implying some ten workstations!

See price list... and Required material

Can Socrate be used on a simple, stand-alone PC?

Yes. Socrate can run on a stand-alone PC without any problem. The software and databases will then be installed on a single PC…

Does Socrate support subscriptions to periodicals and magazines?

Yes. Socrate handles specific data related to subscriptions and follows up issue date predictions. Periodical management is linked to the catalogue and cataloguing follow-up is provided.

Can Socrate print barcode labels?

Yes. Socrate offers many lists, such as library-specific label printouts with barcodes for the catalogue number of materials or for the purpose of editing readers cards. Books can even be registered during the lending session.

Can Socrate scan book covers?

Yes. Socrate scans your documents directly into the catalogue record of the book or material that is being catalogued. Socrate does the scanning and stores the scanned image in the right place.

Does Socrate support guarantee fees and alerts?

Yes. Socrate generates alerts during the lending session, when the state of the material (map, CD, etc…) needs to be checked or a guarantee fee asked.

Is Socrate compatible with anti-virus software?

Anti-virus software is not a problem. Strictly limited to the role of library management software, Socrate has almost never been attacked by known viruses. Nevertheless we prefer a light and efficient anti-virus, such as NOD32. Heavy anti-virus software such as Mac Afee or Norton tends to affect the performance of mid-size PC's.