Side by side comparison of pros and cons of Ares & Voyager for course reserves:
Ares: pros | Ares: cons | Voyager: pros | Voyager: cons |
|---|---|---|---|
Instructors can see lists | Instructors/TA's expected to submit lists | Costs already part of Voyager | Part of Voyager system |
Ability to clone | More staff processing time* | Less staff processing time | Does not archive lists (electronically) |
More instructor time | You can archive lists in Voyager, both in staff mode and online. See comment below | E-reserves go to Blackboard home page | |
| Staff cleaning up instructor & staff errors | Cloning in Voyager is also possible (copy all items en masse from one list to another; remove what you don't need) |
|
| Annual subscription costs | Dereserving is easy; turn off items; remove list |
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| Lack of copyright disclaimer for e-reserves | Simple; easy to use; direct access to catalog/editing |
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| E-reserves go to Blackboard home page | Reserve staff maintains control and provide services | |
| Instructors requesting we DO NOT use Ares | Hardly any downtime; Ares has crashed a few times resulting in unavailable Course Help |
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| When looking for course, brings up all semesters | Instructors can also see previous lists (enliven old lists); and they can be sent via PDF as necessary. |
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| X-listing tab irrelevant - no info provided when searching |
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| When incorrect info data field, Ares freezes |
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*particularly for formats other than standard monographs or serials, i.e. music, scores, etc..