DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A COMPUTERISED LIBRARY STOCK MATCHING SYSTEM

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   Background of the Study

A library is an organized collection of information sources which is made accessible to the people. The library usually contains the information physically or in a digitized format. In the olden period the access was usually in the library room as the technology grew up the access that was made online. Dinesh et al. (2015). Library is a fast growing organism. The ancient methods to maintain it are no longer dynamic and efficient. For expeditious retrieval and dissemination of information and better service for the clientele, application of modern techniques has become absolutely indispensable Neelakandan et al. (2010).Libraries can be divided into categories by several types, which are: Academic libraries, Corporate libraries, Government libraries such as national libraries, Historical society libraries, Private libraries, Public libraries, School libraries, Special libraries, Digital libraries, Picture (photograph) libraries, Slide libraries, Tool libraries, Architecture libraries, Fine arts libraries, Medical libraries, Theological libraries etc. A library is comprised of the following sections, based on the services rendered.

1. Acquisition Section: The books demanded by different departments are done by the Acquisition section. University book centre is also working in this section for supply of books to the libraries in this university.
2. Technical Section: To classify, catalogue, OPAC, Barcode etc. the documents of the University Library this section is working.

iii.              Circulation Section: This section provides documents to the members and users of library for home reading as well as reading in the library. The documents are arranged on the racks in stacks as per the Dewey Decimal Classification Scheme.

1. Periodical Section: To procure, maintain and arrange periodicals services to library members. Periodical section provides reference service with respect to the requirement of the reader. Reference section is attached to periodical section for convenience of the Library users.
2. Databases:Databases like OPAC, CAB-CD ROM abstracting databases, DELNET online Network Service etc. are available for the library members.
3. Reprographic Section: This Section has two automatic plain paper copiers and a duplicating machine through which the services of photocopy are provided to the readers

vii.            Binding Section: This section is working for binding work of the damaged books. Back Volumes and other documents of this Library. The required binding machinery is available in this section.Library management is a sub-discipline of institutional management that focuses on specific issues faced by libraries and library management professionals. Library stock control systemencompasses normal management tasks as well as intellectual freedom, anti- censorship, and fundraising tasks. Issues faced in library stock control frequently overlap those faced in management of non-profit organizations. Sharma et al. (2005).Library stock controlSystem is an application that portraits library system which could be generally small or medium in size. It is used by the librarian to categorically manage the library by the virtue of using a computerized system where he/she can record various transactions like issue of books, return of books, addition of new books, addition of new students etc. Ashutosh et al. (2012).Books and user maintenance modules are also included in this system which would keep track of the users using the library and also a detailed description about the books a library contains.

With this computerized system there will be no loss of book record or member record which generally happens when a non-computerized system is used. In addition, report module is also included in library stock control system. If user’s position is admin, the useris able to generate different kinds of reports like lists of users registered, list of books, issueand return reports. All these modules are able to help librarian to manage the library withmore convenience and in a more efficient way as compared to library systems which are not computerized.

This system will be developed and designed to help librarian control and record every stock transaction so as to reduce and eradicate problem of loss of books and files in the library.

1.2   Statement of the Problem

Presently, transaction of books in the institutional libraries have been done manually in mostcases, thereby taking more time for transaction like borrowing of books or return of books and also searching of member and books. Series of problems occur as a result of this thereby resulting to inefficient library stock control. In most cases as a result of human error there maybe loss and damages of records due to not using a computerized system in the library. Nevertheless, the difficulty in the searching of books which could be termed to be inadequacy in book Management is a problem in the manual library thereby causing inefficiency and time consuming in the library. Also the problem of space consuming erupts after the number of records become large the space for physical storage of file and records also increases if no computerized system is implemented as well as the issue of cost.Due to problem of lack ofprompt information retrieval and time wastage in using the library. In addition due to the cumbersome, in this research work computerized method will be used to solve these problems. Each ofthe manual procedure will be analyzed.

1.3   Aim and Objectives of the Study

This project aims at creating and developing a computerized control record for the university library. In developing a data control for the school library attempts will be made to achieve absolute confidence in the accuracy, completeness, robustness and consistency overtime of these identifiers, because any error in such an identifier will result in wrongly controlled records.

These study is carried out to fulfil the following objectives:

1.             Designing a computerized library stock control system which would help evacuate theproblem faced in manual library.
2.             Implementing the system.

iii.            Evaluating and testing the performance of the system.

1.4   Significance of the Study

One of the important reasons why this research work is necessary and reasonable is that a computerized systemwill be developed to manage theactivities in the library thereby providing easy access of library usage for librarian and users of the library, it will also help librarians keep track of library information etc. This system will also provide electronic means of storage and help librarians keep track of libraryinformation.Furthermore, there will be avoidance of duplicate records in a database where different identifiers are used for the same entity.

1.5   Scope of the Study 

The project product to be produced is a Library Management System which will automate the major library operations. The first subsystem is the registration of the users to the system tokeep track of authorized users to the system. The second subsystem is the registration of new books into the library management system to know when new books are brought into the library. The third subsystem is a borrower and return of books which is the major area needed by the user. There are three end users for the Library Management System. The end users are the admin, users and members.

1.6   Limitations of the Study

There are several limitations that would be encountered during these research work and thereafter. Some of these challenges are:

1.             Lack of unique entity identifier and data quality.
2.             Computation complexity.

iii.            Privacy

1.6.1   Lack of Unique Identifier 

Generally, the databases of stocks does not contain unique entry identifiers or keys.Even when entity identifier are available in the databases to be matched, one must be absolutely confident in the accuracy, completeness, robustness and consistency over time of these identifiers, because any error in such as identifiers will result in wrongly control of record.   Finally, if no entity identifiers are available in the databases then the control process needs to rely upon the attribute that are common across the databases.

1.6.2   Computation Complexity     

When trying to keep control of the stocks in the databases potentially each record from one database needs to be compared with all the records in the other database in order to determine if a pair of records correspond to the same entity or not. The computation complexity of data control therefore grows quadratically as the databases to be controlled gets large.

1.6.3Privacy and Confidentiality

As previously mentioned, with data control commonly relying on personal information such as names, addresses, dates, privacy and confidentiality need to be carefully considered.

1.7   Definition of Terms

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