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Union School of Theology’s previous library system offered no Unicode support, no journal management, and slow performance. Librarian Donald Mitchell chose Soutron for its open approach, cloud-based infrastructure, and support that answers questions within the hour.
Bridgend, South Wales is the home of Union School of Theology and base for residential study, with a worldwide network of learning communities offering access to gospel-hearted, academically rigorous theological education.
The college was formed in 1936 as the Barry School of Evangelism. Today, Union School of Theology offers degrees from BA to PhD levels. Their graduates serve around the world, whether alongside their professional work or in full time ministry, as pastors, missionaries, gospel workers, evangelists, church planters, women’s workers, scholars and youth and children’s workers.
“I can create a meta-data rich environment enhancing records with ease. I absolutely love the duplicate record feature.”
Donald Mitchell
Librarian
It was clear that a new solution was needed.
Donald Mitchell, Librarian, says “I knew of Soutron from various library events and, after an initial conversation, I really liked their open, conversational, no hard sell approach”.
Donald also looked at an Open Source LMS supplier, but the software was not as attractive as Soutron and would have demanded far more on campus input than Union could provide.
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Donald says, “Thanks to the cloud-based software all IT pressures are removed and I have immediate access to brilliant and very helpful support when I need it. Questions are answered within the hour or in many cases instantly, compared to several days of waiting from our previous LMS supplier.”
Donald says, “Soutron makes my daily tasks more enjoyable and what is really nice, the students’ response to this new LMS has been very positive.”
Donald also talks about the new Search Portal that Soutron provide, “When carrying out a search, the speed of the results has been hugely impressive.”
With such a big change, it’s the small features that have really impressed Donald. Within the loans features, to be able to tweak issue dates has been useful when faced with a student at the desk. Also, how easy it is to download biblio meta-data from various third-party sources to populate new records is now a very simple task.
“I can create a meta-data rich environment enhancing records with ease. I absolutely love the duplicate record feature, instantly creating a digital version of a record or vice versa. A fantastic feature for a single-handed librarian like myself.”
Commenting further on the Soutron support, Donald adds, “The helpdesk is so patient and willing with my queries, no matter how large or small, stellar support from the Soutron support team!”
With such a flexible application in place, Donald is already looking at adding archive materials to the catalogue and exploring how visual aids could be used to help students navigate the library shelves from the Search Portal pages Soutron provide.
To learn more about Union School of Theology, visit their website: www.ust.ac.uk
To find out how you can migrate to a fast, secure, cloud-based information management system to support your organization, book a 20 minute discovery call with us today, see below.
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The first step is to learn more. Here's how we can answer your questions:
Yes. Soutron's cloud-based LMS removes all IT pressure from library staff. Union School of Theology Librarian Donald Mitchell runs a modern library operation without any on-campus IT involvement, with all infrastructure managed and hosted by Soutron.
Yes. Soutron includes journal management as a standard part of the platform. Union School of Theology's previous supplier required a separate add-on module costing several thousand pounds. Soutron provided this functionality as part of the core system with no additional cost.
Yes. Soutron includes full Unicode support, making it suitable for theological libraries that hold materials in Hebrew, Greek, Arabic, or other non-Latin scripts. Union School of Theology specifically required Unicode support that their previous system could not provide.
Soutron's helpdesk responds to queries within the hour in most cases, and often instantly. Union School of Theology Librarian Donald Mitchell described the support as stellar, noting the patience and willingness of the team with queries of any size, compared to several days of waiting from their previous LMS supplier.
