Page 13 - DLIS007_LIBRARY AUTOMATION

Library Automation

Notes Automation can increase staff productivity. Staff can assist patrons rather than spending large
amounts of time keeping track of paperwork, managing patron files and taking inventory of the
collection. Plus a good automated system would reduce errors and redundancy within the
library system itself. Overdue, lost and missing books can be accounted for more efficiently,
assisting the library in recovering costs and managing the collection better.
The absolute bare minimum of automation would include an Online Public Access Catalogue
(OPAC) module, a Circulation Module, and a Cataloguing Module. In order for one module to
work, it is necessary for the other modules to be functioning.

Example: It would be very difficult for a patron to find new books in the OPAC if there
was no way to catalogue new books, and it would be difficult to find out the publications issued
out if there is no circulation module.
For effectiveness and accuracy, it is necessary to purchase an integrated system that includes
OPAC, Circulation, and Cataloguing modules.
Automation can decrease costs and increase service, no matter how small a library is. While the
process can seem daunting and expensive, there are many low-cost vendor systems and
cataloguing resources on the market. As well, your small library will probably grow larger in
time, and it is better to begin automation early. Equipment and software upgrades can be
purchased at later dates as the library system grows. The total workforce involved depends on
two factors, the size of the collection and the approach by which one chooses to automate one’s
library system.
The cost of automation can be broken into three categories: the cost of purchasing the hardware
and software; the cost of implementation including retrospective conversion of the manual
records; and the cost of ongoing maintenance of the operations. The cost of hardware and
software is highly dependent upon a number of factors, including modules purchased, size of
the collection and operations and stipulations of the contract. According to Borgman, libraries
have been implementing automated systems for the following reasons:

Improving internal workflows, and sharing cataloguing data;
Providing access to local library resources, i.e., providing of access to online catalogues;
conducting of retrospective conversion activities;

Providing access to resources outside the library that is providing access to other collections
and to other online services for operating bibliographic and other information services,
document delivery, online data exchange, and integrating online resources;
Interoperability of information systems; that is efforts towards real time interaction
between computers distributed over wide and local area networks, using various standards,
e.g., 239.50, and the World Wide Web protocols.

Did u know? During the 1960s and the 1970s librarians in India were hotly debating whether
computers had any place in libraries, just as they discussed – in the beginning of the
century – whether typewriters had. Today, the library community as a whole is realizing
that computers and information technology, in general, are the tools of the new information
era, just like the printing machine with movable types was the tool of an information era
which started with Gutenberg in the fifteenth century and lasted until the middle of the
last century.
Now, the important question is no longer whether to use the computer or not, but how to use its
full potential for providing efficient and speedy information services. For libraries to make

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