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Library Automation

Notes database as the basis, automation converge new technologies of information storage and retrieval
with traditional housekeeping operations.

1.1 Concept of Library Automation

The word automation has been derived from a Greek word “Automose” which means something
which has the power of spontaneous motion or self-movement. Automation, when used in a
library context, refers to the computerization or mechanisation of all library activities. ALA
Glossary of Library and Information Science defines automation as “the performance of an
operation, a series of operations or a process by self-activating, self-controlling, or automatic
means. Automation implies the use of automatic data processing equipment such as a computer
or other labour saving devices”. The term automation was first introduced by D. S. Harder in
1936 but the word library automation has been used in literature for the last five decades.
According to the International Encyclopaedia of Information Technology and Library Science, it
is the technology concerned with the design and development of process and system that
minimize the necessity of human intervention in their operation. Library automation has been
defined as ‘integrated systems’ that computerize an array of traditional library functions using
a common database. While this is still generally true, rapid technological change is forcing a re-
examination of what it means to “automate the library.”
In general, however, library automation has come to mean the application of computers and
related data processing equipment to libraries. In the context of computerisation, a library
information system may be defined as a set of library transactions, processing systems designed
to provide information to library members and to support the operational, managerial and
decision making information needs of library staff. It includes computer as one of its components.
Thus, a computerized library and information system is a set of functional system encompassing:
Library work practice and procedures
Information technologies – computer hardware, software, having database management
system and
Work’ forces (library staff)
Library automation refers to the phenomenon of mechanization of traditional library activities
such as acquisition, serials control, cataloguing, circulation, etc. Library Automation is usually
distinguished from related fields such as information retrieval, automatic indexing and
abstracting and automatic textual analysis. However, now-a-days, a clear distinction is not
maintained and library automation may sometimes include related fields as well. Although
computers have a major role in library automation, telecommunication and reprography
technologies have equally important roles because of the support they offer to library automation.

Notes An automated library is one where a computer system is used to manage one or
several of the library’s key functions such as acquisition, serials control, cataloguing,
circulation and the public access catalogue.

1.1.1 Definition

Reitz (2004) defined library automation as:
“The use of computer systems to accomplish tasks originally is done by hand in libraries. Beginning in the
1960s with the development of the machine readable catalogue record (MARC), the process of automation

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