FEATURE
Library Management Systems
Graham Beastall, managing director and Graham Partridge, research & development director, Soutron
For library staff, the big needs are for streamlined processes that are efficient but provide essential statistics and reports that help decision making. They also want reduced training time. Library users require quick and seamless access to the information they need when and where they need it. With the economic situation, library budgets continue to be cut and librarians need to do more for less as they strive to justify their services within their organisations. Librarians do not have time to configure systems as they used to and they also do not have dedicated systems staff. This means a supplier has to be much more agile and in tune to provide support. Bringing together physical and electronic materials is overtaking other needs.
The integrated library system (ILS) is still a critical factor in staff performance and productivity. It is also outside the expertise of
‘Clients these days do not have time to create their own reports and so look to suppliers to provide and write these as required’
IT departments and, as such, hosting systems are necessary. This requires systems that can integrate with internal systems, especially for the user who wants/needs single sign-on (SSO).
Clients these days do not have time to create their own reports and so look to suppliers to provide and write these as required. Suppliers need to understand and work with their clients to understand their needs and help evolve their services. It is
24 Research Information DEC 2012/JAN 2013
about the customer relationship as much as it is about the application.
Library users demand simple but efficient workflows. They also want flexibility, especially in the structure of the database so that it can be used not just for the library but for other areas of the business as well. Ease of cleaning up data when it comes from older MARC-based systems is also very important. Libraries continue to
face economic
difficulties and cutbacks both on budgets and staffing. Fewer people will visit the library so libraries need to push information electronically to end users based on their needs. We are actively working on providing,
streamlining and improving this service.
type
of
Other challenges include lack of flexibility and out-dated standards that have been extended to meet today’s needs but in a way that is not efficient. If systems are too complex this causes disruption when staff leave or join an organisation. Another challenge is staff members who do not adjust and adapt to the new realities and want to follow the same procedures that they always have because the tools they use are known. Having several, isolated systems, instead of a single one, leads to duplication of effort and poor reporting.
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