Cloud Computing P- 04. Information Communication Technology for Libraries

इस ब्लॉग्स को सृजन करने में आप सभी से सादर सुझाव आमंत्रित हैं , कृपया अपने सुझाव और प्रविष्टियाँ प्रेषित करे , इसका संपूर्ण कार्य क्षेत्र विश्व ज्ञान समुदाय हैं , जो सभी प्रतियोगियों के कॅरिअर निर्माण महत्त्वपूर्ण योगदान देगा ,आप अपने सुझाव इस मेल पत्ते पर भेज सकते हैं - chandrashekhar.malav@yahoo.com

Cloud Computing

P- 04. Information Communication Technology for Libraries *

By :Usha Munshi,Paper Coordinator

0. Objectives

Cloud computing is getting quite popular now a days in the world of ICT. Cloud computing refers to group of technologies that provides on-demand storage, data or computing power through the Internet. The concept has made huge impact on the technological application especially pertaining to the database and software applications. The cloud computing can be effectively implemented in various library application too. Different services and applications being used in library for providing services to the users can be effectively implemented using cloud computing. In this module we are going to study basics of cloud computing, its architecture and models as well as its applications to libraries.

1. Introduction

“Cloud Computing” is not a new term, “Cloud” evolved with history of Internet itself. The idea of an "intergalactic computer network" was introduced in the sixties by J.C.R. Licklider (aka “Lick”) , who was responsible for enabling the development of ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) in 1969.

According to Larry Roberts, the primary ARPANET architect:

“Lick had this concept of the intergalactic network which he believed was everybody could use computers anywhere and get at data anywhere in the world. Although he didn’t have a clue how to build it. He didn’t have any idea how to make this happen. But he knew it was important, so he sat down with me and really convinced me that it was important and convinced me into making it happen.”

Other experts attribute the concept of cloud computing to computer scientist John McCarthy who proposed the idea of computation being delivered as a public utility which date back to the sixties.

In the past, computers were clustered together to form a single larger computer as common industrial practice that allowed users to configure computers to talk with each other using standard protocols to balance the computational load across the machines. As a user, one need not care about which CPU ran the program, and the cluster management software ensured that the “best” CPU at that time was used to run the code.

In the early 1990s, Ian Foster and Carl Kesselman came up with a new concept called “Grid”. With analogy to the electricity grid where users could plug into the grid and use a metered utility service. The same was applied for computing resources in case of grid computing where in a user plug into a grid of computers and pay for what he/she uses. Grid computing expands the techniques of clustering where multiple independent clusters act like a grid due to their nature of not being located in a single domain.

The main bottleneck for moving cluster computing to grid computing was “data residency”. The computers in the cluster were usually physically connected to the disks holding the data, where as in grid the computational nodes could be situated anywhere in the world. It was fine having all that CPU power available, but the data on which the CPU performed its operations could be thousands of miles away, causing a delay (latency) between data fetched and its execution.

To avoid this bottleneck and to take grid further at the level of service, concept of the cloud computing was introduced, as such concepts of grid computing was evolved to a service offered by data centres.

in short the concept of “cloud” doesn’t only involve computers but encompasses

•First cloud around networking (TCP/IP abstraction)

•Second cloud around documents (WWW data abstraction)

•The currently emerging cloud abstracts infrastructure complexities of servers, applications, data, and heterogeneous platforms.

2. Definition: The Cloud Computing

In generic terms Cloud Computing can be defined as “a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction." (NIST)

As far as a user is concerned, a cloud is a service that satisfies all of the following conditions:

●     it is delivered over a telecommunications network

●     users place reliance on the service for data access and/or data processing

●     the data is under the legal control of the user

●     some of the resources on which the service depends are virtualised, i.e. the user has no technical need to be aware as to on which his applications are running or server running on which host is delivering the service, nor where the hosting device is located.

●     the service is acquired under a relatively flexible contractual arrangement,

The fundamental elements of cloud computing can be categorised as per following table        

Primary	Secondary
Virtualization Grid technology Service Oriented Architectures Distributed Computing Broadband Networks Browser as a platform Free and Open Source Software Autonomic Systems Web 2.0 Web application frameworks Service Level Agreements

Table: 1 Fundamental elements of cloud computing.

The conceptual model of cloud promotes availability of resources, and is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models.

3. Essential Characteristics of Cloud

As per definition of cloud computing by The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)   "five essential characteristics" of cloud computing are:

1 On-demand self-service (i.e. automated response by servers to direct requests by clients)

Cloud services such as email, applications, database, storage, computing, network or server service can be provided without requiring human interaction with each service provider. Cloud service providers that offers on demand self-services include Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, Google, IBM and Salesforce.com.

2 Broad Network Access (i.e. from anywhere, using any device) 

Cloud deliverables are available over the network and accessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms such as smart phones, tablets, laptops and desktop PCs.

3 Resource Pooling (i.e. the provider allocates resources according to demand, rather than assigning resources to particular clients)

The provider’s computing resources are pooled together to serve multiple clients using multiple-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to client demand. The resources include, among others, storage, processing, memory, network bandwidth, virtual machines etc. This characteristic also gives a degree of location independence in where in the client generally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of the provided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher level of abstraction (e.g., country, state or regional data centre).

4 Rapid Elasticity (i.e. resources are scalable according to demand)

Usage of resources in cloud services can be rapidly and elastically provisioned, which can also done automatically, to quickly scale out and rapidly released to quickly scale in. The capabilities available for provisioning often appear to be unlimited to the consumer and can be purchased in any quantity at any time.

5 Measured Service (i.e. resource usage is metered)

Cloud computing resource usage can be measured, controlled, and reported providing transparency for both the provider and consumer of the utilised service. Cloud computing services use a metering capability which enables to control and optimise resource (e.g., storage, processing, bandwidth and active user accounts) use. This implies that just like any other utility services, IT services are charged per usage metrics – pay per use. 

4. Cloud Service Models

Cloud service providers offer their services according to several fundamental models: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS) where IaaS is the most basic and each higher model abstracts from the details of the lower models.

0.1 Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

It is the capability provided to the user to enable processing, storage, networks, and other fundamental computing resources where the user is able to deploy and run arbitrary software, which can include operating systems and applications. The user does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage, deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networking components.

0.2 Platform as a Service (PaaS)

PaaS provides an application platform, or middleware, as a service on which developers can build and deploy custom applications. Common solutions provided in this tier range from APIs and tools to database and business process management systems to security integration, allowing developers to build applications and run them on the infrastructure that the cloud vendor owns and maintains.

0.3 Software as a Service (SaaS)

The applications are accessible from various client devices through a thin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based email). The user does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage, or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exception of limited user-specific application configuration settings.

Apart from basic service models, Network as a Service (NaaS) and Communication as a Service (CaaS) were officially included by ITU (International Telecommunication Union) as part of the basic cloud computing models, recognized service categories of a telecommunication-centric cloud ecosystem

5. Cloud Deployment Models

There are four primary cloud deployment models. Each deployment model necessarily exhibits the previously discussed essential characteristics. The basic differences lies in the scope and access of cloud services, as they are made available to end users.

0.1 Public Cloud 

A public cloud is a publicly accessible cloud environment owned by a third-party cloud provider. The deployment of a public cloud computing system is having two major characteristics, the first one is public availability of the cloud service offering and the other is the public network that is used to communicate with the cloud service. The cloud services and cloud resources are procured from very large resource pools that are shared by all end users. If a cloud provider runs several datacenters, for instance, resources can be assigned in such a way that the load is uniformly distributed between all centers.  Generally, public cloud service providers like Amazon AWS, Microsoft and Google own and operate the infrastructure and offer access only via Internet.

0.2 Private Cloud   

Private cloud is cloud infrastructure operated solely for a single organization, whether managed internally or by a third-party and hosted internally or externally. Self-run cloud infrastructures are generally capital intensive. They have a significant physical footprint, requiring allocations of space, hardware, and environmental controls. These assets have to be refreshed periodically, resulting in additional capital expenditures. Generally private cloulds are not preferred because users still have to buy, build, and manage them.

0.3 Community Cloud

A community cloud is similar to a public cloud except that its access is limited to a specific community of cloud consumers. In this delivery model, cloud infrastructure is being shared between several organizations from a specific community with common objectives. It can be managed internally or by a third-party and hosted internally or externally. The costs are spread over fewer users than a public cloud (but more than a private cloud), so only some of the cost savings potential of cloud computing are realized.

0.4 Hybrid Cloud 

A hybrid cloud is a cloud environment of two or more different cloud deployment models, offering the benefits of multiple deployment models. Hybrid cloud can also mean the ability to connect collocation, managed and/or dedicated services with cloud resources. A hybrid cloud service can be defined as a cloud service that is composed of combination of private, public and community cloud services, offered through different service providers. A hybrid cloud service crosses isolation and provider boundaries so that it can’t be simply put in one category of private, public, or community cloud service. It allows one to extend either the capacity or the capability of a cloud service, by aggregation, integration or customization with another cloud service.

6. Advantages of Cloud Computing

The advantages of cloud computing depends on case to case basis. However, following are the general benefits:

• Assured maximum availability of data, application and infrastructure
• Need to pay only for what has been used (i.e. Bandwidth, Resources)
• Relieves burden of IT staff within organization, as routine jobs are being handled by service providers
• Easily scalable as per requirement of organization

General disadvantages of cloud are dependency upon network connectivity, security, legal issues (ownership of data), latency etc. which needs to be carefully reviewed.

7. Cloud Computing and IT based Library Services

Most common library services can be scoped in to following three categories.

Data: Bibliographic, Technical, Access, Licence

Content: Collection, Subscription, Digital, Print, Publishing

Services: Library as a place, content-access, content-creation, research, preservation

As libraries are having service-oriented mission they are in a position to adopt cloud computing. Libraries (or librarians) are in constant search of finding proper solution within limited resources, moreover the outreach of service is quite dependent on support of external or internal computing (IT) support staff.  It has been always difficult for libraries to have IT support staff with expertise on advance IT management. This situation makes SaaS, PaaS or IaaS approach tempting for library professionals to move towards cloud computing for providing better library services.

Libraries have been adopting cloud-based solutions services like electronic journal access management, statistics tracking, digital library hosting and now trend is coming up for hosted library management systems.

The use of SaaS in libraries dates back to early 2000 with the establishment of companies like SerialsSolutions (http://serialssolutions.com). There are also examples of availability of hosting platforms like INFLIBNET’s OJAS (Open Journal Academic System) available athttp://www.inflibnet.ac.in/ojs/, For Institutional repositories there is Dura Cloud (http://duracloud.org/), for open access publishing BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com/) are well-known platform.

One of the pioneer for IaaS cloud services is Amazon Elastic Computing Cloud (EC2) which offers IT infrastructure with differently sized servers using a choice of operating systems, including several flavours of Linux and Windows. EC2 provides organizations with unlimited storage using S3 service, the ability to take snapshots of both data and servers, and the ability to include EC2 servers in an organization’s private network. A full catalogue of EC2 features is available on the EC2 website (http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/).

In India, under NMEICT (National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology), IIT Delhi has been entrusted responsibilities to establish common compute infrastructure for the academic needs with a good bandwidth access via NKN (National Knowledge Network) besides this, INFLIBNET Centre is also offering several cloud based services (DSpace hosting, virtual and physical server hosting) at its data centre located at Gandhinagar.

8. Conclusion

By using cloud, library services can be made online without worrying about correct versions of platforms or the underlying technology. It also gives facility to induce new applications quickly without having to focus on identifying available server space or configuration and IT-based library services can be delivered much more quickly than when using locally-based hardware or software. 

Libraries can make choices about the allocation of resources and to offer better service than would be possible if relying on in-house solutions.

Refrences

(Last Accessed on 25^th May 2014)

• Mohamed, Arif ; A history of cloud computing ; ComuterWeekly.com (http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/06/10/235429/A-history-of-cloud-computing.htm)
• Internet pioneers : J.C.R. Licklider (http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/licklider.html)
• Wallis, Paul; A brief history of cloud computing: Is the cloud there yet?: Cloud Computing Journal (http://cloudcomputing.sys-con.com/node/581838)
• Mitchell, Eric, Ph.D.: Using cloud services for library IT infrastructure : Code4Lib Journal (http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/2510).
• Cloud computing : Wikipedia Article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing)
• NIST cloud computing program (http://www.nist.gov/itl/cloud/index.cfm)
• Objectives : INFLIBNET Centre (http://www.inflibnet.ac.in/about/objective.html)
• http://www.cloud-competence-center.com/understanding/cloud-computing-deployment-models/

Circulation P- 04. Information Communication Technology for Libraries

इस ब्लॉग्स को सृजन करने में आप सभी से सादर सुझाव आमंत्रित हैं , कृपया अपने सुझाव और प्रविष्टियाँ प्रेषित करे , इसका संपूर्ण कार्य क्षेत्र विश्व ज्ञान समुदाय हैं , जो सभी प्रतियोगियों के कॅरिअर निर्माण महत्त्वपूर्ण योगदान देगा ,आप अपने सुझाव इस मेल पत्ते पर भेज सकते हैं - chandrashekhar.malav@yahoo.com

Circulation

P- 04. Information Communication Technology for Libraries *

By :Usha Munshi,Paper Coordinator

0. Objectives

The objectives of this module is to impart knowledge on the following aspects of automated circulation system:

• Objectives and advantages of automated circulation control
• Circulation master databases
• Functions of automated circulation control: creation of membership, transactions, reminders, overdue charges, etc.
• Compliance with  NCIP 2.0  and SIP2 for  electronic surveillance and RFID based transaction
• Maintenance status of the items on OPAC such as binding, lost, missing and withdrawal, etc.
• Borrowing and lending through Inter Library Loan (ILL)
• Stock verification and generation of reports.

1. Introduction

Circulation is a central and highly visible function of a typical library. Circulation, which is often compared with inventory control, involves a great deal of record keeping and consumes considerable staff time. It is essential that the transaction records are accurate and updated for each transaction. Circulation being vital front-end function of a library, has provision for all possible automated functions handled in a typical academic library, i.e. membership, issues, returns, ILL, reminders, over dues, reservations, recall, etc. It keeps track of members' registration, issue, renewal, return, and reservation of documents. A library member should be able to see his/her membership status, items borrowed, returned, renewed, requested, damaged, lost, or stolen using OPAC. Many libraries are using bar code technology for books and membership card for speedy transaction and stock verification, Smart card and RFID system are recent technology that are being used for circulation system that facilitate a fully automated circulation control with efficient check in/check out features in most of the ILMS. 

2. Objectives of Automated Circulation Control

The objectives of an automated circulation control may be summarized as follows:

• To record and maintain the loan transaction data accurately;
• To record and maintain the membership data;
• To have efficient and effective control over dues, fines and records;
• To provide accurate information about status of a book and a member; and
• To provide necessary statistical and management reports.

3. Advantages of Computerised Circulation Subsystem

Computerised circulation subsystems, apart from performing all the basic activities related to circulation, offers extensive control of stock in the library. Some of the important advantages of computerized circulation system over manual circulation system are as follows:

• Identify and track reserved documents on their return from loan;
• Generate (in print and electronically) overdue and recall notices;
• Calculate fines and generate demand notes;
• Print checkout and check-in slips instantly;
• Reservations on documents in circulation can be made instantaneously;
• Automatic identification of over-borrowing and defaulters;
• Error-free data capturing through barcode, RFID and smart card technology;
• Define circulation parameters (limits in terms of books that can be borrowed and borrowing time period for various categories of members);
• Back-up provision to cover telecommunication or computer system failures;
• Collect and display issue statistics and other reports for management and users;
• Support multiple items renewals in one step;
• Alert members if an item is already issued to another user;
• Change status of an item automatically in the OPAC after it has been issued or returned; and
• Allow users to place reservation on an available or charged/issued item without library intervention.

4. Circulation Master Databases

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Circulation Master allows library staff  to define parameters needed to take care of circulation operations in the library. One should have defined parameters in the member type, categories, privileges, calendar, customized member card, Institute details, ILL details, etc. before you start with the other functions of the circulation module.

 

4.1 Member Category: Categories of various types of users are created and stored in this master with their borrowing/usage rights/ privileges, etc. Under this member category, one should feed in details like category code, membership duration, membership charges, membership dues allowed and deposit charged and member expiry date. The privileges should also be defined selecting each category like types of documents, no. of documents to be issued, loan period, and fine to be charged for each member category, etc. This will help in calculation of over due charges and duration of loan period in transaction module. Privileges can be defined based on type of material and collection type.

 

4.2 Member Types:  This option is useful especially for book bank “Member Types” facilitate defining privileges based on type of members. This parameter is particularly applicable in circulation module for book bank. Here one can impose restrictions in terms of no. of books, cost of books, total income of borrower’s parents, categories of borrower, ie. SC/ST/OBC/General, etc. Type of members can be categorized as General, SC/ST, OBC, etc.

 

4.3 Customised Member Card: This option allows you to create new template or add/edit delete existing template meant for printing barcodes, membership identity cards with requisite membership information, etc. The template facilitates customization of size of various fields for membership card.

 

4.4 Calendar:   Calendar is used for storing official public holidays declared for the library. The information stored here is used to shift the due date to the next working day. This also takes care of calculating overdue charges, where ever applicable.

 

4.5 Institute Detail: This module enables to create any number of institutions with their code, name and address. Under each institution, number of departments can be created along with courses available in the departments and designations of the users. This information is useful in creation of membership, wherein institute, department, course and designation of the user can be selected from the dropdown menu.

 

4.6 Inter Library Loan: One can add the external library/institutions that becomes member of the library to facilitate the lending and borrowing resources on Inter Library Loan. Based on type of material, details of the member library and associated privileges, i.e. maximum number of items to be issued, lending period, fine charges, etc, can be defined. The same template can be used to define privileges for the resources loaned out to departmental library, i.e. made available at another location.

 

4.7 Letter layout: This master file stores pre-defined contents of various letters used in circulation. Each letter may consist of elements like letter number, letter title, customizable content, signatory, copy to, enclosure heading, enclosure contents, etc.

 

The following letters are generally printed or sent to users by email:

 

• Reminders to members

• Notices to reserve

• Document recall letter.

5. 0 Functions of Automated Circulation Control

The automated circulation system should perform the following functions:

• Creation of membership;
• Search membership database by membership code or surname and search documents; database by accession number, title, author, subject, etc.;
• Charging and discharging of books;
• Reserve, renew and recall function;
• Issue reminders for overdue books;
• Provide members statistics;
• Overdue charges and generate letters;
• Stock verification;
• ILL and maintenance activities;
• Member log list; and
• Other reports.

The processes describe in this module are provisioned in most of the ILMS specially in SOUL 2.0 software.

5.1 Creation of database of Members

Circulation module allows library staff to create /delete/renew transaction records and to establish relationship between the user (taken from member’s database) and resources (taken from document database). Activities involved in creation of database of members include:

5.1.1 New Membership Record Creation: Membership records include personal information viz., last name, first name and middle name, type of membership (selected from master database), membership status, category of member, name of department/division, institute and course (if applicable) and contact number, address, etc. for each enrolled member. Membership code may be generated automatically or entered manually into the database. This Member ID is printed as barcode on identity cards and is used for document transactions.

5.1.2 Modification of Membership Record: Membership records can be edited or updated using member's ID or code.

5.1.3 Deletion of Member’s Records: This feature facilitates library staff to delete membership record either group wise or one at time at the end of membership period. Prerequisite  for use of this step is clearance of all dues for each individual members of a group.

5.1.4 Renewal of Membership: This provision is required for renewing the expiry date of membership, when the validity of membership expires.

5.1.5 Copy Member: One may copy an existing membership record and use it with new membership code. This option is useful when a library member is changing his/her credentials by either shifting to another department or joining a new course.

5.1.6 Search Member: Membership records can be searched using various parameters. There are various filters to limit the search results such as code, name, department, designation, entry date, and category. The retrieved member list can be used to update the membership details or to issue no-due certificate. In addition to that, member status (privileges, item issued and reserved) can also be searched through OPAC by entering the member code/ID.

5.1.7 Delete Single Member/Group: There are two options for deleting membership record either delete single member or delete entire group of members.

5.1.8 Renewal: There are two options for renewal of membership record either renew single member or renew a given group of members.

5.1.9 No Due Certificate: No due certificate of members can be generated in bulk by selecting institute followed by department, category and course/designation within department.

5.2. Transaction

The transaction or loan database is the core to the circulation system. This database comprises of series of records, one for each transaction. Each record includes a brief dataset that specifies details of document (through document number), details of the user (through membership code) and transaction details (e.g., date of issue and date of return are extracted from the system date, and due date is calculated automatically). With integrated software, the bibliographical details (e.g., author, title edition, place and year of publication) of documents on loan are extracted from the catalogue database and the membership database is utilised for collecting user information. Accession numbers of documents are used as the key data elements in first case, whereas membership codes act as pointer to the membership database in the second instance.

All the transactions, i.e., charging/discharging, issued on premises, return on premises, renewal, reservation, cancel reservation, written-off, lost, missing, damaged, reminders, over due, etc. of documents are carried out and stored in defined files/database. The following transactions are performed in automated circulation system: 

5.2.1 Charge/Issues: To issue a document presented by a borrower its accession number is to be entered in ILMS either manually or by using bar code scanner. Then the bibliographical information of the document along with its status (whether available for issue or reserved) is displayed on the screen. The next step is to enter member code of the borrower that results in display of details of the member along with category, number of documents issued against the member and overdue charges etc. The library staff can then issue the document by selecting appropriate option. The system after, checking various parameters, generates appropriate message along with date of issue and due date of return. This sub-module generally supports extension of due date, if required.

5.2.2 Discharge/Return:  This facility is meant for receiving the documents back to the library again is lent out to new users before it. Only the accession number is sufficient to return the document. The status of the document along with details of returning member will be displayed. The library staff may then mark return of the document by clicking necessary option. In case of late return (after due date) the system prompts for fine collection.

5.2.3 Issue and Return (On premises): “On premises” issue is a special transaction that facilitate for issue of  items within library premises or in reading room, for photo copying or overnight issue. Just enter accession number and click on return button to take back the book issued “on premises”.

5.2.4 Book Bank Issue/Return: This option facilitates library to issue/return material in bulk to any category/type of member (like backward class, SC/ST, OBC) provided that they are entitle to get them. There is provision to issue books up to certain cost and specified categories of  member-such transactions are specifically applicable in  book bank issues.

5.2.5 Renewal: This is meant to issue a document to the same member again by renewing the transaction record. Due date gets changed automatically in the process. The renewal process will be successful, if someone has not reserved the document.

5.2.6 Reservation and Cancellation: This function facilitates the library staff to reserve a document which is on loan. It is usual practice in libraries to maintain the “holds queue” on first-come first-serve basis. Even in this function, before actually recording the holds, the system has to govern the hold placement by material type, member type and other conditions as required by the library policy. There is a provision to cancel the reservation already made by a member.

5.2.7 Recall: It is not an unusual situation in libraries to recall the items borrowed by a member. An item is recalled if it is overdue and/or is reserved by some member. There may be other conditions for recall such as; item is required for stock verification or the item has to be sent for binding and so on.

5.2.8 Fines/Overdue Charges:  An item is said to be overdue, if it is not returned to the library on or before due date specified at the time of charge or renewal or recall. The system should detect the overdue items and produce suitable overdue notices to the member. When required, the system should be able to provide listings of overdue items and member having overdue items. An efficient system allows suitably authorized staff for waiving of the fines and levying of fines for documents mutilated by the member. Further, the system should take into account the holidays while calculating the fines.

5.2.9 Reminder Generation: Sending reminders to its members for overdue books are routine matter for any library. The circulation staff prints or sends reminders by email to the member using the reminder option. The generated reminders for overdue documents can be sent to a group of members, to individual members, for a particular due date to all defaulters. The format and text of reminder letter may be modified while generating reminders or by using master database.

5.2.10 Member Log List: In many libraries daily visits of the members need to be registered to keep track of the use of the library. A list of members who visited the library at a given time or between a given periods with their logged-in and logged-out time can be generated.

5.2.11 Book Transfer: In big organizations having large collections in the library, transfer some of the collection to different departmental libraries of vice versa is possible options.  To perform this operation, first select source library and the destination library, enter transfer date and accession number of all the items to be transferred and then opt for transfer.

Automatic Identification System

i)                    Bar code: The transactions are done using bar code on member card and bar code label pasted on book. The data required for issue/return of documents is taken from the catalogue and membership ID codes. These bar-coded data elements can be read through a portable light-scanning device (e.g., barcode reader).

ii)                  RFID: A recent trend of ILMSs is to incorporate self-checking or self-issue option in the circulation module using RFID technology. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology is being used to manage self-service counters for issue and return of documents. An RFID system comprises of three components: a tag, a reader and an antenna. The tag contains paper-thin chip, which stores necessary bibliographic data. The tag is fixed on the inside cover of a document. RFID reader and antenna are often integrated into patron self checkout machines or inventory readers. The RFID reader powers the antenna to generate the field to decode information stored on the chip. RFID reader sends information to the central server, which, in turn, communicates with the library automation software. RFID, apart from self-issue/return facility, also supports stock verification, theft detection using RFID technology, and identification of misplaced books and inventory counts.

iii)                Smart Cards: A smart card is an embedded microchip that can be loaded with membership  data that can be used for transaction of library materials. 

5.3. Inter Library Loan (ILL)

Inter library loan simply means that documents available in a given library can be issued to other libraries.  Most of the libraries depend on each other for meeting of the information requirement of their users. The circulation module in ILMS should also support ILL to help library staff  smooth operations of ILL. This sub-module generally includes the following facilities:

5.3.1 Borrowing: It involves tasks to procure document (s) for a member of the library who has asked for document on ILL from some other library. The steps are:

• Receiving request and entering of relevant information into the database

(Member code, item details, type of item, etc)

• Generation and printing of request letter addressed to the library from where the document is to be borrowed;
• Receiving of document(s) on ILL by selecting the received status and entering date of arrival in the module;
• Sending intimation about arrival of document(s) on ILL to the requester;
• Issuing document(s) to the member who has requested it;
• Returning the item(s) borrowed on ILL;
• Generating reminder letter in case of overdue document(s); and
• Sending ILL document back to the owner library.

5.3.2  Lending: It is meant for lending of library documents to member libraries on ILL through the use of ILL sub-module. The tasks to be performed for this service are:

• Issuing of item(s) to the member library through entering necessary details (accession number of document and name and code of the member library);
• Receiving back the item(s) issued on ILL;
• Sending reminder to the concerned library in case of delay in returning; and
• Generating list of documents which have been loaned to other libraries on ILL.

5.4. Maintenance

This sub-module is generally part of circulation module for recording information about lost documents, documents sent for binding, damaged documents, missing documents and documents withdrawn from a library. The functions of this sub-module include following groups of tasks:

5.4.1 Lost: Loss of a document is managed through two options: i) replacement of document, and II) recovery of amount. In the first case replacement is confirmed after entering code of the concerned member and accession number of the lost document. If amount is to be recovered from a member for the lost document, the 'amount recover' option is to be activated by entering member code and price recovered. Payment receipt may also be generated by selecting appropriate option. The status of the same should be reflected in OPAC.

5.4.2 Binding: The reasons for binding documents are two-fold i.e., their preservation for posterity and to keep them in a usable state for users. Binding facility of maintenance sub-module is a combination of the following five basic steps:

• Entering accession numbers of the documents to be sent for binding;
• Order generation for binding of selected documents through input of order number, expected date of delivery, price, and name of binder, budget head and binding type;
• Receiving of documents from binder and processing of invoice;
• Release of payment; and
• Reminder to binder. 

5.4.3 Damaged: This option need to be exercised when some items of library collection are damaged and have to be withdrawn from OPAC/Circulation. To tag any item as damaged, go to “charged status” and first enter the accession number of that item and press the appropriate button. Option is provided to reintroduce the damaged item for circulation as repaired.

5.4.4 Missing: A document can be tagged as missing when it is reported as missing by staff or user or noticed during stock verification. If missing item is traced out, option is provided to change the status as “on shelf” in OPAC.

5.4.5 Withdraw: stock revision or weeding out of documents is essential in order to make enough space for the usable stock. The task of weeding out is performed by entering accession numbers of withdrawn documents in appropriate sub-module. Such a system has the provision to reintroduce an already weeded out document by simply checking or clicking the status button. The status of the document is also  reflected in OPAC also.

5.5. Stock Verification

Stock verification variably called, stock taking, physical verification or checking, stock inspection,  inventory taking essentially  means physical check-up of library materials.

Libraries perform periodic stock verification in order to identify the missing, lost and misplaced books. Stock verification helps to replace those missing documents and take appropriate precautionary measures to minimize the theft. Besides this, the identification of damaged documents for repairing or binding, rearranging, cleaning and withdrawal of obsolete documents are also performed simultaneously. The stock verification can be verified by using shelving location of items or import file (in excel or cdf format) which contains list of accession number in order. Bar code technology or RFID can also be used for stock verification.

There are four type of report for verified stock:

Mismatch Accession: In this report, on can get list of items which are not available in the database.

Mismatch Status: In the report, one can get list of all those items for which status is deferred in database.

Mismatch Location: In this report, one can get list of items which are from different location.

Available Items: In this report, one can get list of items for which status is available “on-shelf” but they are not verified during verification.

6. Reports

One of the important advantages of automated systems is the provision of variety of reports. Some of the important reports are as follows:

Member ID Card: Member ID card with name of the member, membership code, department, institute, category, branch, year, photo and also barcode can be printed by utilising appropriate facility.

Reminder: Generation of reminder letters for overdue document(s) is a regular work of the circulation section. Reminders are produced and sent to a group of members or individual members or to all defaulters. Reminder letters for ILL over dues are also generated as output.

List of library members: The list of members of a library can be printed either by name or by member code. Member list can also be generated by department, category or for a particular time period (membership duration). The list can be sorted on any required sequence or order.

Member History: It generates or displays a list of documents that are issued and returned by a member during his/her membership period. The membership code of the user is required to be entered for generation of such a list.

Membership Expiry List: This facility generates a list of memberships expiring either on a particular date or between two dates.

Items Issued over a Period: This is a list of documents issued either on a particular date or between two dates.

Items Returned over a Period: This option generated a list of documents returned either on a particular date or between two dates.

Items Reserved over a Period: It produces a list of documents reserved either on a particular date or between a range of two dates.

Most Frequently Issued Items: This option facilitates generation of a list of most frequently issued documents by displaying their accession numbers, titles of the books and number of times they has been issued.

Most Frequent Members: It displays a list of most frequent users by showing member details and how many times each have used the library.

Item's Transaction History: Entering accession number or resource identification number of the desired document may generate the transaction history of any particular document displaying members who have got document issued since its acquisition.

Fiscal Report: It gives details of the fines collected by the library either on a particular date or between two range of dates i.e., during a particular period.

Library Usage: This report shows a graph displaying department/division/section of the organisation on the Y-axis and number of documents used by them on X-axis. Similar reports to show usage by different category of library members may also be generated.

Apart from the above mentioned reports, report may also be generated for the following activities/functions:

• No dues certificate;
• ILL reports (arrival intimation, reminder, list of items on ILL, overdue charges and payment receipts);
• List of lost, missing or damaged documents;
• List of lost documents for which money was recovered;
• List of documents sent for binding;
• Order letter for binding;
• List of withdrawn documents;
• Fine summary;
• Statistics; and
• Book issue register.

7. Summary

This module gives thorough insight into the operations involved in automated circulation services. It defines the objectives and advantages of the services provided through automated circulation system. Parameters defined in circulation master database that should be taken care of in the circulation operations in the library have been explained. Also the module elaborates the functions carried out in the automated circulation control keeping track of creation of membership, renewal, transactions involving issue/return, reservation, recall, fine collection, member login, book transfer, etc. Inter library loan, borrowing and lending, maintenance of library material i.e. binding, damaged, missing, lost, and withdrawn and stock verification. It also discusses the generation of various important reports in the automated circulation system.

References and Further Reading

DESIDOC. Suchika : A Library Automation Software. Users Reference Manual. Delhi: DESIDOC

Guha,B. (l991).A Report on the Feasibility Study on Automation: and Networking of Delhi Libraries (DELNET). New Delhi: NISSAT

INFLIBNET. SOUL. A Library Automation Software: Users Reference Manual. Ahmedabad : INFLIBNET.

Kumar,P.S.G. (1987). Computerisation in Indian Libraries. Delhi: BR publishing House, p 174.

Marilyn, Deegan (2002). Digital Futures: Strategies jar the Information Age. London: Library Association Publishing.

Tedd, L.A. (1987). Introduction to Cornputer- based Library System. London: Hyde.