The Salient Features of a Library Automation System - Essay Example

Library Automation System This article describes the salient features of a Library Automation System (also known as Library Management System). The features elaborated are user interface, serials control, acquisition methods, cataloging and systems requirement. The Horizon Automation System for library management is described as the User Group for the system described here. The standard protocols used for these features are mentioned and references provided for the detailed study and information. References are provided to SirsiDynix documentation for the Protocol Compliance. Library Automation System The Library Automation System is the online management system for the library resources. The standards based system provides an interface for remote public access and inter library operations like ILL (Inter Library Loaning). The main features of the library automation system are described as: Online Catalogs - Anglo American Cataloguing Rules (AACR) are used for constructing catalogues in the library system. The cataloguing is done based on the two classes of materials: monographs and continuing resources. AACR2 (AACR 2nd edition) defines "monograph" as: A work that is complete in one part or intended to be complete in a specified number of parts; The parts may or may not be numbered. An example of monograph is a book, which may be updated as an edition. AACR2 defines 'Continuing Resources" as: "A bibliographic resource that is issued over time with no predetermined conclusion. Continuing resources include serials and ongoing integrating resources." The serial is a continuing resource issued in a succession of discrete parts, usually bearing numbering, that has no predetermined conclusion. E.g. journals, magazines, newspapers, and monographic series. The integrating resource is the work that is updated and integrated into the whole. E.g. updating web sites. After determining the type of the material an online catalogue is created for the work object. There are following types of records created in the catalogue: Bibliographic Records - describe the intellectual and physical characteristics of the intellectual resource (monograph or continuing resource). Holdings Record - provide copy-specific information on a library resource (location, call number, etc). The bibliographic record must exist before holdings record is created. Item Record - identifies a physical piece - book, CD, etc and links it to a barcode number that is used for circulation. Authority Record - provide information about individual names, subjects and uniform titles that are used in the bibliographic records, e.g. Author, Publisher, etc. Authority records provide cross-references in the catalogues. Record Creation - The bibliographic record is created in the library system when CIP (Catalogue-In-Publication) record is received from the bibliography publishing agency or is locally entered. The holdings and item records are created when the physical object is received. Record Edit - The record is edited when either an update to the CIP record is received (any modifications in the published information), the item is made available to the library, or if there are any modifications to any of the field information in the item catalogue. Record Import - The import of a record is performed when the requested information is not available in the local library system. The search request is submitted through the Z39.50 client to the preferred partners (OCLC server) who can loan the desired item. The server returns the requested record. MARC Record Management The MARC formats are the standards for the representation and communication of bibliographic and related information in machine-readable form. The cataloguing information is maintained on the typed cards and in online bibliographic records as: Author Title Edition Place of Publication Publisher Date of Publication Subject Headings, Etc. The Library of Congress needed to develop software which allowed cataloguers to enter their descriptive cataloguing information in a uniform way. Rather than use the written terms, such as "Author," a set of three numbers [called MARC tags] to substitute for the written words. For example, Tag 100 stands for Author: Personal Name, i.e. an individual or individuals are responsible for the work. The MARC tag 100 identifies an author "field." Authority Control provides bibliographic control in a library catalog. One or more access points are associated with a database; these can be specified in search for database records. An access point is unique or a non-unique key, that brings together all the works associated with it, e.g. author's work. E.g. the client can request the Z39.50 Sort Service to sort the result set based on a specific key. All MARC21 formats for authority control are supported. The MARC authority records are used for implementing the "See" and "See Also" utilities. Authority records can be created, imported from a third vendor or from OCLC. Circulation System - This feature provides online management of library resource borrowing by members (check-out and check-in), resource reservation, and ILL request if the item is not available locally. Acquisition System - The library acquisition system manages the request (placing orders) and receipt (creating catalog records) of library resources e.g. books, audio/video etc. The acquisition methods are: online order based on circulation data mining (like most read author, subject etc), order based on CIP records (item relevance to local library users). Serials System - This feature supports prediction of the future publications by incorporating the Catalogue-In-Publication (CIP) records in the database. The CIP records are created by library resource vendors (e.g. publishers) or third part agencies and supplied to the libraries before the physical item actually arrives. The bibliographic record based on the CIP record information is created in the library automation system to provide the information on future additions to the library resources. MARC21 format is used for creating CIP records. User interface - The User Interface of the library management system provides access to the library catalog for librarians, local users and remote users. The user interface must be able to support multiple users and multiple sessions for smooth & fast operations. The interface must support limited access for different categories of users e.g. library users may have access to circulation system for check-out and check-in but no access to Serials and Acquisition system. Inter-Library Communication - The Library Automation systems must support Z39.50 protocol based client-server implementation for inter-library communication & access of remote database with MARC21 (US-MARC default) format for cataloging information. The Z39.50 client must be running at the Library local system. Communication between the client and the server is via a Z39.50-Association (Z-Association). There may be multiple Z-associations for a connection and multiple consecutive as well as concurrent operations within a Z-association. Horizon Automation System The Horizon Integrated Automation System is a library management system marketed by SirsiDynix (formerly Ameritech library services a subsidiary of Ameritech Corporation). The important features of this library system are: 1. Cataloguing - The tools for search & display of the catalogue information are Horizon Enriched Content and Horizon Consolidated Searching. The SirsiDynix Classic Z39.50 server supports the following services: Initialization, Search, Present, Delete, Access-Control, Resource-report, Resource-control, and Trigger-resource-control. The holdings information can be submitted to the OCLC through Z39.50 Extended Service Definition (online submission). All MARC21 formats for bibliographic data exchange are supported. Authority control is supported. 2. The Z39.50 protocol based client-server implementation for inter-library communication using MARC21 format. 3. The GUI supports a per user session, allowing multiple users to login from the same workstation. The Horizon Information Portal is the standard piece of Horizon library suite for web based searching. 4. Acquisition - The users (e.g. publishers, product merchants, audio-video recorders etc) can send the distribution information in the EDIFACT (Electronic Data Interchange For Administration, Commerce and Transport developed under the United Nations) order or X12 order to Ingram. At Ingram the complete holdings record are created and loaded with MARC21 bibliographic records. These (CIP) records are available through Horizon Information Portal. 5. Circulation - NCIP DCB 5.0 (ANSI/NISO Z39.83-2002) is supported. This provides direct consortia borrowing that facilitate the transfer of user and item data between disparate circulation applications. NCIP facilitates the exchange of circulation data between Inter Library Loan (ILL) applications thus item borrowed can be handled as if owned locally. Self service circulation is also supported. The service types supported are Lookup, Update and Notification. The MARC21 formatting is used for data description in the messages. 6. Serials Control - The CIP information is made available to the users through the Horizon Information Portal. Dynix is an early adopter of Service Oriented architecture (SOA) and created Vendor Integration Protocol for applications that interact with Horizon Library Management system. This protocol provides web services for transferring bibliographic, item and order data from book suppliers into the system. The Dynix partners to provide the bibliographic content are: Baker & Taylor, Inc. for books and audio visual material. They offer OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) cataloging records. Ingram Book Group for implementation and development of Vendor Integration Protocol. OverDrive, Inc. for eBooks. Syndetic Solutions, Inc. for descriptive content for library catalogs. YBP Library Services to select order and receive monograms. 7. Horizon 8.0 supports MARC21 conversion to/from MARCXML. The advantage is that with MARCXML custom applications can be build and all MARC encoded data is supported irrespective of the format. The records are based on Library of Congress Subject Heading (LCSH). The installation of Horizon Automation System has the following requirements: System Requirements: for Horizon 8.0 Staff Workstation - Pentium IV or greater recommended, 512MB RAM (min), 1.0GB free disk space required, Windows 2000/NTv4.0/XP professional, 20/48x CD-ROM, Network interface card for TCP/IP connectivity. PAC Client Workstation - Pentium IV or greater recommended, 256MB RAM , 100MB free disk space required, Windows 98 or higher, 20/48X CD-ROM, Network interface card for TCP/IP connectivity. Minimum connection requirements: 1-2 computers - 128Kbps, 3-5 computers - 512Kbps, 5+ computers - T1. Security & Maintenance - Firewall implementation on all workstations connected to the external network. The secured resources services provided by SirsiDynix are storage of backup tapes in a climate-controlled environment. SirsiDynix also provides restoration of system by remote access. Emergency Application Service Provider (ASP) option provides hardware on a pay-per-month basis and also a loaner server while re-indexing. SirsiDynix systems offer Unicode compliance for multi-lingual support. References 1. Read, Elizabeth. (2004). Cataloguing Manual: Table of Contents. Queen's Library University. Retrieved May 8, 2006 from http://130.15.161.74/techserv/cat/c001con.html 2. Cataloging: Introduction to MARC records. Retrieved May 8, 2006 from http://falcon.jmu.edu/ramseyil/catalogingintro.htm 3. MARC standards (September 2005) Library of Congress - Network Development and MARC Standards Office. Retrieved May 8, 2006 from http://www.loc.gov/marc/marc.html 4. Authority Control. Library Technologies Inc. Retrieved May 8, 2006 from http://www.authoritycontrol.com/A-AINT-B.html 5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_Readable_Cataloging 6. Horizon Integrated Library System. Sirsi Dynix. Retrieved on May 9, 2006 from http://www.dynix.com/products/horizon/ 7. Poplawska, Lucyna. "A short introduction concerning the implementation of the HORIZON system at the Nicholas Copernicus University Library in TORUN Poland." LIBER Quarterly, the journal of European research libraries, ISSN 1435-5205, Vol. 9(1999), No 2. http://liber-maps.kb.nl/articles/popla11.htm 8. "Z39.50 documentation." OCLC United States. Retrieved from http://www.oclc.org/support/documentation/z3950/ on March 25, 2006. 9. The Bath profile. "An International Z39.50 Specification for Library Applications and resource Discovery." The Bath Group. Release 1.1, http://www.nic-bnc.ca/bath/bp-current.htm 10. SirsiDynix documentation. http://www.sirsidynix.com/Resources/#ils 11. NISO standards. http://www.niso.org/standards/index.html 12. MARCXML to MARC21 Example Documents. http://www.loc.gov/standards/marcxml/// Read More