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Applications
of Library Automation System
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Scope
- LAS, like cars, are available for
an extreme range of prices (free to millions of dollars) with a
wide range of capabilities and features.
- Some LASs provide a single
software package that combines a wide range of functionality,
while other LASs consist of separate but integratable software
modules that may purchased as need arises or funds become
available.
- Generally, in an LAS you get what
you pay for, though newer entries in the market are usually
offering more functionality for less money and lower "maintenance"
(ongoing, yearly support and upgrading) charges.
- Below are the most of the
components usually desired in a full-featured LAS.
Acquisitions
- Many LAS offer a module that
substantially automates the process of ordering and processing
received orders for books, videos, etc. Usually , the module works
in conjunction with the ordering and database tools provided by a
book distributor such as Ingram, Baker & Taylor, or
Midwest.
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Administration
- Almost any library operation
needs to know its own performance in relation to what it needs to
accomplish and in relation to other similar departments at other
libraries. In addition, library administrations need an overall
picture of the performance of the library and its various
departments.
- Consequently, many LAS contained
robust data analysis and reporting capabilities.
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Authority
Control
- This is the process of verifying
that the author, title, and other headings in the record of any
material is consistent with the standard form for those headings.
- It involves the access and
downloading of data from "authority file" databases, which are
available from the Library of Congress, major bibliographic
utilities (OCLC, RLIN), and LAS vendors.
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Cataloging
- The underlying strength of a LAS
is that a wide range of information on every item in a library is
organized, stored, and tracked (indexed) in individual records on
the LAS database.
- This requires standard ways for
collecting, organizing, and verifying that data.
- The cataloging function or module
in an LAS provides for both the local creation of an entirely
original record for any material as well as for the locating and
downloading of an existing record for the material from an online
bibliographic utility.
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Circulation
- Checking out materials, tracking
their usage, issuing reminders to return materials, and issuing
fines are the major features of the circulation module of an
LAS.
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Collection
Management and Development
- LSs provide facilties for
evaluating the coverage, usage, and age of a library collection
through analysis of the contents of the records in the underlying
database.
- Those analyses can be turned into
collection development guidelines and plans for weeding the
collection and selecting materials to add to it.
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Database
Access
- Often libraries provide public
access to the commercial online databases of articles and other
information resources. This is typically done in three
ways:
- Access via telnet or a Web
browser through a network but not through the LAS.
- Access via a text- or
Web-based LAS if the LAS vendor provides support for the
function.
- Access to one or more CD-ROMs
on a single, local computer on a local network.
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Interlibrary
Loan (ILL)
- Some LASs offer an interlibrary
loan (ILL) facility that can with the ILL search and borrowing
capabilities of such bibliographic utilities as OCLC or RLIN and
track the materials located and received from or loaned to other
libraries.
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Internet/Web
Access
- Often libraries provide public
access to the Internet/World Wide Web. This is typically done in
three ways:
- Access via a browser through a
network but not through the LAS.
- Access via a browser through a
Web-based LAS if the LAS vendor provides support for the
function.
- Access via the OPAC, in which
searches for materials may list Web sites in addition to
materials resident in the library.
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Online
Public Access Catalogs (OPACs)
- The underlying strength of a LAS
is that a wide range of information on every item in a library is
organized, stored, and tracked (indexed) in individual records on
the LAS database.
- When combined with an search and
retrieval interface that allows a local or remote computer user to
query the database, you have an online public access catalog
(OPAC).
- OPACs have a wide range of search
capabilities depending upon the product.
- Some OPACs limit searching to
just author, title, and subject fields in records.
- Other OPACs provide ways for
searching via combinations of the above three as well
as:
- Dewey or Library of
Congress (LOC) classification call numbers
- International Standard Book
Number (ISBN)
- Any word in the entire
record for all materials
- Individual MARC (MAchine
Readable Cataloging) fields.
- Some OPACs have separate
keyword and browsing capabilities, the latter usually
consisting of the bringing up of lists of subject, author, or
title headings.
- Many OPACs also offer the user
the ability to place a hold (request) an item that is currently
checked out or available at another branch of the same library
system.
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Reference
- The search capabilities of OPAC
is, generally, the most important tool for the reference
process.
- Sometimes, though, a LAS offers a
query interface that enables the reference librarian to search the
LAS database in more sophisticated ways than available to the
public. For example, the librarian may be able to determine if
there are books on order on a particular subject, but which are
not yet in the catalog visible to a library user.
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Remote
Library Access
- Z39.50. Remember "Z39.50." There
are hundreds of different library automation systems in existance
or currently available from vendors. Any LAS, though, that
supports the Z39.50 data exchange protocol will be able to search
another OPAC that also supports that protocol.
- Remote library access becomes
valuable when one knows that a certain library or certain kinds of
libraries are more likely to have desired resources on a
particular subject or by a particular author.
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Reserves
- Often a library (usually a K-12
school or academic one) or an instructor needs to place certain
library or personal materials on reserve for temporary
access.
- A Reserves module makes this very
easy to do but is usually an extra or add-on cost to the basic
LAS.
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Serials
Management
- A serials module enables the more
efficient management of a collection of journals, magazines,
newspapers, and, even, rolls of microfilmed periodicals.
- Its functions include managing
subscriptions, tracking the receipt of issues, and requesting
replacements for missing or damaged issues.
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Systems
Administration
- A LAS usually includes functions
for managing the LAS and the host computers and network that it
resides on.
- These enable local personnel to
do some amount of troubleshooting, configuration, and optimization
of the LAS.
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