My IMIS project

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the Study It is generally believed that information is one of the assets that an organisation possesses Like other assets and resources such as people, finance, building, customers and products, information must be well managed if the success of the organisation of any type, be it institution or business is to be ensured Thus, the efficient organization of data in and on information sources is a crucial requirement for the effective communication of information in human societies, (Tiamiyu, 1998) Information, the communicable form of knowledge, is also a major factor in economic, social and educational development Consequently, management of, and access to information, particularly Scientific and Technical information, are essential pre-requisite for progress Information are organized so that others can find it, read or otherwise absorb it and use it to add to their own store of knowledge, (Arlene, 2004) One major institution responsible for accumulating information and acting as reservoir of this sensitive asset of national existence is the library 1.1.1 Library Library means repository for forms of recorded information Although, the word came from the Latin “Liber”, meaning “book”, the term now refers to collections of data in many other formats: microfilm, magazines, films, magnetic tapes, slides, video tapes and electronic media Thus, library is a collection of sources, resources, and services, and the structure in which it is housed; it is organized for use and maintained by a public body, an institution, or a private individual, (Sadiq, 1993) Thus, modern libraries are increasingly being redefined as places to get unrestricted access to information in many formats and from many sources They are understood as extending beyond the physical walls of a building, by including material accessible by electronic means, and by providing the assistance of librarians in navigating and analyzing tremendous amounts of knowledge with a variety of digital tools, (Faisal and Surendran, 2008) However, the justification for the existence of any library set up is not in the building of vast storehouses of knowledge persee, but rather the satisfaction of the immediate information needs of its particular clientele This particular clientele may have information needs in form of access to books, serials, reports and other library materials Efficiently reacting to these expectations imposes certain requirements on the design, construction, and operation of any library These needs, as obvious as they may appear, are not easily met, especially when set against the dynamism of the human society in which the library system operates To meet up to these expectations, therefore, it becomes apparent that libraries should continuously seek improvement in internal operating techniques, and consider new techniques that will facilitate the process of information delivery Out of all equipment represented by modern technology, the one with the greatest potential for library operations is the computer The computer, together with other devices and procedures offer the greatest capabilities for relieving some of the serious technical processing problems of library system, and eventually for upgrading the quality and range of services The adoption of the computer to library operations often referred to as “automation” or “Computerization” and or “digitization” (Kochtanek and Mathew, 2002) Automation of library operations has increased tremendously over the years, most especially in the developed countries This is as a result of the increasing awareness that manual systems in most libraries can no longer cope with demand for effective and efficient information service in the modern world Hence, the adoption of computers in the quest for this talked about effectiveness and efficiency in the libraries The idea is that, the application of computers to library operations will transform and redefine the libraries functions 1.1.2 Types of library Academic libraries These cover the spectrum from libraries in schools of all sizes, through to those of major universities and research institutions They have something of a captive audience, in that the institutions they serve are dedicated to teaching and learning, and the libraries' role is to provide access to the sources of information from which that teaching and learning can develop Public Libraries Public libraries serve communities of all sizes and types Wherever you live, there's bound to be a local public library nearby! As the name implies, public libraries serve the general public, "from cradle to grave" Public libraries often have departments that focus on areas of service, such as youth, teens and adults Special libraries Special libraries offer unique opportunities to work in a specialized environment of interest, such as corporations, hospitals, the military, museums, private businesses, and the government Special libraries can serve particular populations, such as the blind and physically handicapped, while others are dedicated to special collections, such as the Library of Congress or a presidential library or Medical Library Art Libraries, Law Libraries, Theological Library, Music Library 1.1.3 Senior secondary School In Nigeria, secondary school is for children from ages 10 to 18 It incorporates six years of three terms per school year after which students can choose to go to a higher institution such as the University, Polytechnics or vocational schools to further their studies Secondary education is divided into junior and senior secondary The Junior School Certificate is awarded after three years of junior school The Senior School Certificate is awarded after three years of senior secondary education Pupils who complete junior secondary school are streamed into senior secondary school or technical colleges 1.3.4 Oba Akinbiyi Senior Secondary School II (OASSSII) Presently the Government of the state is carrying out a major project upon the refurbishments of the school to be one of the five secondary schools that would become model school in Oyo state 1.3.5 OASSSII Library The purpose of a school library is to provide a wide range of books and resources that would support teaching and learning throughout stages of reading and it is an information culture that promotes independent motivated readers and learners for life It is an accessible place to the whole school community during and outside the school hours The existing system is non-automated library system where students take and read the books for the limited period of time and the students return the books within the time frame Presently the school have two school media specialists who manage the activities of the school library 1.2 Statement of Problem The concern of this study has been directed at developing an efficient system that would enhance both the storage and retrieval of information for effective research activities in OASSSII The present system is a manual system involving two stages of processes It is mainly storage and retrieval processes The manual storage is by keeping the documents (i.e textbooks, journals, reports, bulletins, theses e.t.c) on the wood shelves and cabinets The retrieval process is done when there is a need to search for any document, the staff have to search through bulk of catalogue cards in the catalogue boxes (author-title cards or subject cards) until the relevant cards containing the direction of where the document can be located on the shelve is sighted or seen This process is repeated for every query by the clientele The catalogue system is that functional interrelated unit within the library set up with the primary responsibility of providing easy access to the library's collections by the users This has revolved over the years from simple manuscript records in book form into the card catalogue form This project is targeted at overcoming the challenges of this manual library cataloguing and retrieving system through the provision of an automated cataloguing and retrieval system The librarian strives to achieve control of information explosion through preparation of a complete inventory or description of stock of the library’s holdings from which is possible to find book where the author, title or subject is known OASSSII_LIB is facing some problems at the cataloguing subsystem of the library, which are affecting its services The rate of acquiring books is higher than what personnel available can work at; backlog of books to be catalogued has built up There is pressure on the library for review of the system and the anticipated growth of the library holdings calls for a review of the manual system in operation 1.3 Objective of the Study This study aims at analysing the existing manual system of information storage and retrieval of OASSSII_Library and to design an automated based system for effective and efficient storage and retrieval of information for the library The following are the sub-objectives of the system: i Provide easy storage and access to information documents in support of research and teaching needs of the users ii Provide consistently high quality bibliographic records in the database that will iii iv conform to the latest digital and classification scheme Provision of on-line access digital library system (DLS) Reduce the processing time of the information generated, accessed and stored in v vi Vii OASSSII_LIB provide test and assignment for student Provide quick and accurate update of the library's database Provision of authority control 1.4 Justification The repetitive and manual system of processing materials in the library no doubt account for the large number of unprocessed materials The stock continues to witness a steady growth, thus, this study is aimed at addressing this ineffectiveness Secondly, there is an increasing demand for and use of the rich materials of the library but the primitive way of searching the catalogues makes it rather difficult to satisfy users’ demands But with the introduction of automation systems, the search and retrieval system will be very simple and faster With an automated cataloguing and information retrieval system in place, more timely, more accurate, and more comprehensive information will be provided to improve the quality and effectiveness of research activities This is because computers store information on the disk and provide easier and faster access to the information with the availability of stored programs Cost-effectiveness would be achieved in the long run by the library through the use of the new system It is hoped that this project will spark off the desire for the long awaited automation program in the library and form the foundation to be built on and speed up the automation of the system on which circulation, reference, online public access (OPAC) and other services will be integrated by allowing many systems and users to access a single set of database and eliminate information redundancy CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW AND METHODOLOGY 2.0 Introduction The increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to facilitate daily routine has transformed the traditional functions of academic libraries from manually processing library collections to electronic methods of performing such technical library processing such as cataloguing, indexing and so on (Etubi, 2009 ) This chapter reviews previous theories and opinions on research related to library information systems (library automation, digital library, data and information organization, documents storage, databases and information retrieval systems) 2.1 Information Systems Information systems (IS) according to Andrue et.al (1992), is the formal group of processes that operating on a collection of data that are structured according to the needs of an organization, compiles, elaborates and distributes part of the information in support of the control activities and the decision making processes necessary to carry out the normal functions of the organization An information system is a set of interrelated components that collect, manipulate and disseminate data and information and provide a feedback mechanism to meet an objective In computer based, information system is a single set of hardware, software, databases, telecommunications, people and procedures that are configured to collect, manipulate , store, and process data into information (Stair and Reynolds, 2001) An information system has also been defined as a means of providing information in such a way that it would be most useful to the persons for whom it is intended In other words, an information system comprises a set of complementary activities that are performed towards a common objective of facilitating information flow among a community of people, for example, library Information systems are usually established to facilitate such activities as the creation, organization, storage, retrieval, transfer, computation and use of the data Such activities utilize both material and human resources with a technology to create data or transform existing data into more valuable data and information (Tiamiyu, 2003) There exist different types of information systems such as management of information system (MIS), decision support systems (DSS), executive support system (ESS), transaction processing system (TPS), library information system (LIS) and so on 2.1.1 Library information systems (LIS) The phrase does capture the basic elements of the application of computing solutions aimed at bringing the user and information content together, which is the essence of service within libraries of all types and sizes (Kochtanek and Mathew, 2002) Parker (1968) as quoted by Kochtanek and Mathews (2002), went on to identify library information systems as not only “automating” existing processes within libraries ( such as circulation control procedures, cataloguing, and so on ) but also including access to materials not held by the library but available in electronic format The application of computing systems in libraries has been a subject of interest to professional librarians for more than 65years More recently, libraries have sought to implement increasingly complex solutions that involve distributed networking and access to remote information resources The term library information system (LIS) in its present form is defined to include a wide array of solutions that previously might have been considered separate industries with distinctly different market place and the online database instructions As the library information system domain has developed and evolved, numerous terms have been used to describe these efforts to incorporate technological solutions that improve access to recorded knowledge (Kochtanek and Mathews, 2002) Library information system domain is made up of several separate applications which are established to support end user access to digitally recorded document surrogates or primary knowledge records They include:  Integrated library system (LIS),  Web-based resources,  Digital library collections,  Online database,  E-books and e-journals e.t.c 2.1.2 Library Automation In the age of information explosion, libraries and information resource centers have become multimedia centers due to adoption of new technological devices and changing nature of their information storage, retrieval and services Automating an academic library is the process which restructures its functions and reinvents its services By keeping a database as the basis, automation converge new technologies of information storage and retrieval with traditional housekeeping operations An automated academic library can serve the teaching and learning community more effectively A reduction in the time needed for routine operations can be utilized to give customized services to the users (Faisal and Surendran, 2008) During the last 25 years, the computer and telecommunication technologies began to build up an information society, which has crossed the geographical limitations and has provided facilities to access into global information systems As a result, nature of modern librarianship has changed considerably with the advent of new technologies In fact, ‘automation’ is an indispensable part of modern library information systems development, organization, management and services In the present ‘age of information’, automation has been making tremendous impact on different sectors of the libraries and information centers In view of complex and multi-faceted user requirements, this results in numerous specialization and flow of non-stop information, decreasing comprehensive acquisition of documents for libraries, growing demands of information, increasing number of users, etc Automation has been playing a vital role in improving the capabilities of libraries/information centers towards attaining satisfaction of their users (Munshi, 1998) Library automation may be defined as the application of computers to perform traditional library house keeping activities such as acquisition, circulation, cataloguing, and reference and serials control Automation is used to reduce the amount of staff time devoted to repetitive (and often less challenging) activities that must be done in any properly functioning library It is to be remembered that, various library operations are automated, not the library as such (Faisal and Surendran, 2008) Finally, library automation is the process of performing all information operations/ activities in library with the help of computers and related information technologies The functions that may be automated are any or all of the following: acquisition, cataloging, public access (OPAC and Web PAC), indexing and abstracting, circulation, serials 10 Richard, E Bubin (2004) Foundation of Library and Information Science 2nd Edition New York: Neal- Schuman Publications, pp.33-50 Stair, R M and Reynolds, G W (2001) Principle of Information Systems: Management Approach, 5th Edition U.S.A Thomson Learning, pp.22-56 Taylor, A G (2004) The Organization of Information, London: GreenWood Publishing Group, Inc Whitten, Jeffery, 417p Tiamiyu, M A (2003) Organization of Data in Information System: A synthesis for the Information Professions, 141p University of Lowa (1992) Integrated Library System Migration Study (Internet), Lowa http//lowa.www.lib.uiowa.edu/oasis/ils/report/integrated.html 28th May 2004 160 ... (Kochtanek and Thomas,1998) 2.7.4 MyLibrary@NCState The North Carolina State University library has released the source code to its portal application called MyLibrary@NCStaye This software allows... of this project has been for efficient system in Adetokunbo Lucas Public Health Library that enhances both the storage and retrieval of information for effective research activities This project. .. Alternative entails the use of web compatible software (PHP, JavaScript and MYSQL log) It comes with a new package (PHP and MYSQL) It is a cross platform i.e it can reside on any operating system,