Media center's catalogue now online

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
(Email Renee)

With the click of a mouse, catechists, Catholic school teachers or any parishioner in the Diocese of Sioux City may order information to enrich their faith or increase their knowledge of Catholic Church doctrine.

After about a year of work, the Religious Education Media Center's new online catalogue is up and running. Parishioners may access the information directly at mediacenter.scdiocese.org or they may go to the diocesan Web site - scdiocese.org - and then click on the media center logo.

According to Larry Sitzman, who runs the center, much has changed since the media center opened in 1976.

"For several years everything was on paper," noted the deacon. "Then the catalogue eventually was put into a three-ring binder. Next, because of the expense, we put it into a CD-Rom so we could send it to everyone."

To keep up with the technology, the catalogue was accessible via the diocesan Web site for about that last two years but not in its present form.

Dan Burns, webmaster, pointed out that for the first time a shopping cart has been added to the site.

In the past, he explained, the catalogue was offered in a simple PDF form.

"It was a file that was searchable, but it didn't have any of the functionality that we now have in terms of being able to select the items, drop them into a shopping cart and check out. They can actually order the material online," he said. "That's the main difference between what we had and what we have now."

While Burns did the bulk of the work on the site with direction from Sitzman, the diocese did hire a computer programmer to develop the shopping cart.

"The shopping cart is the same type of thing you would find at Amazon or anywhere you shop online," he explained.

Given that so much information had to be included in the site, Burns acknowledged that it was quite a process and more work than anticipated. He extended gratitude to those who offered patience and support during "this difficult process."

Even though it was a lot of work and took longer than expected, they agreed that it was worth it because it will make the process of ordering information easier for catechists, educators, youth ministers, pastors and parishioners.

Sitzman pointed out that more and more dioceses are going to this type of system for ordering resources.

"It is just so much easier. They just click on it and it sends the order to me," he explained. "They may order seven or eight videos or DVDs with specific dates. Some teachers will order items several months ahead - especially seasonal material. Then I will send confirmation back to them."

Hundreds, if not thousands of resources are listed on the online catalogue. Resources may be found in the various mediums - computer software, audio cassettes, CDs, DVDs, printed resources, textbooks and video cassettes. If you have a particular topic in mind, resources are also listed by DVD themes, printed resource themes or video cassette themes. Users may opt to look under a specific topic, such as retreat resources or first Eucharist prep, or they may widen their search to adult and family resources.

Once you click on a title, it provides pertinent info such as a brief summary, length, publisher and the level (age appropriateness of material).

"We have quite a few materials for all age groups," noted Sitzman. "Sometimes adults will use materials for Bible study groups."

The media center homepage contains a link to the center's newsletter, which lists new resources.

Burns noted that this online catalogue is a prime example of "DAA (Diocesan Annual Appeal) dollars at work."

With the start of the school year just around the corner, the deacon pointed out that now is an ideal time for catechists and schoolteachers to preview videos and DVDs they may opt to use later on in the year.

"If they think they will use a particular resource often, then they could go ahead and purchase their own copy," said Sitzman.

There is no charge for using the material; the only cost is in the postage to return items to the media center. For parishes and Catholic schools in Sioux City, the items are shipped by courier. Traditional mail is used to ship out-of-town materials.

Contact Deacon Sitzman at (712) 233-7529 with questions.

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