Wisconsin's library agency and
Fretwell Downing, Inc.
create a gateway to expanded resources

Wisconsin's Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning, recently selected Fretwell-Downing, Inc. as a solutions partner for WISCAT, its expanded statewide resource sharing project. 

"We decided to use Fretwell Downing's software to develop and improve our statewide union catalog and now our libraries can update their holdings interactively," reports Sally Drew, Director of the Reference and Loan Library. "Fretwell Downing, Inc.'s fully web-based software allows our organization to build on the success of local resource sharing, by allowing patrons as well as staff to select items and create interlibrary loan requests."

Fretwell-Downing software takes interlibrary loan information from multiple sources and merges it into a single database, making it possible to transfer records from the union catalog, while also integrating requests created by searching local automated systems. What's more, the software manages interlibrary loan traffic at a high level of functionality.

The WISCAT project presented a challenge for the chosen software provider because it needed a system compatible with MARC21, ISO interlibrary loan and Z39.50 standards. "We picked Fretwell Downing software because it's the most consistently standards-based," says Drew. And, "the fact that Fretwell-Downing, Inc.'s software was already developed and operating in other libraries was also a boon, because it didn't require our agency to work on a development project."

Another reason the team chose Fretwell-Downing's software was because FD is developing products based on a full range of national standards which will serve the organization well by providing a gateway to a wide range of information resources in the future.

The Division's Reference and Loan Library coordinates and serves as a clearinghouse for statewide interlibrary loan and reference referral. They also manage the state document depository program and statewide automation programs for libraries, such as the statewide union catalog and full text projects.

For more than ten years, Fretwell-Downing, Inc. (FD Inc.) has been a global leader in the evolution of digital libraries. Delivering unmatched service and flexibility, FD Inc. offers libraries a seamless choice of standards-based solutions.  Building toward a solid vision of a "library without walls," FD Inc. boasts the unique ability to integrate with disparate electronic library systems, as well as creating and managing entirely new digital systems.