KDU Library System

Abstract
In this paper we propose a Computer based application to manage and
maintain various activities in a library. There are some main day today
activities of a library like registering new members, buy new books, books
lending, books borrowing, recording book details and etc. To maintain the
library efficiency there should be an effective way to record all these relevant
details. Still most of the libraries in Sri Lanka are having file based library
system and due to that there are many faults with those systems. Most of the
times there are no any proper recordings of book details and filed documents
may damage due to various reasons. Further it will takes much time to perform
its duties and the overall system may inefficiency.

Because of these things we think to implement a computer based

application to solve all these problems.

Through this application, the librarian can add / delete/ edit / Update
Books and Member ship details. Further it is able to record book lending and
users can view the list of all books

Literature Review
In this section brief description will be given of some of the LMSs used in
the world between 1990 to today. Further some valuable information provide
throughout the chapter LMS compiled by Leeves with Russell through funding
from the British Library Research and Development Department (BLR&DD)
under the auspices of the Library Information Technology Centre (LITC) at
South Bank University in London.
ALICE
This LMS originated in Australia and was introduced into the UK market in
1992. It is primarily aimed at school libraries and has proved to be popular with
Leeves with Russell recording some 320 users in special, college and prison
libraries as well as in schools. Darroch provides a brief description of the place
of ALICE in the LMS marketplace in the late 1990s

DataTrek
This LMS originated from software developed in the US but by the 1990s some
UK special libraries were using it. Hoey, for instance, describes its
implementation at the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). As similar learned
societies, the RSC had been using online information retrieval system since the
1980s and by the 1990s realised the need for a complementary LMS. In 1996
DataTrek, by then part of the Dawson Holdings group, acquired Information
Management and Engineering (IME) the producers of the Tinlib software.

Galaxy
The Galaxy 2000 LMS, from the British firm, DS proved to be a popular system,
particularly in public libraries, during the 1990s. Neary describes how
Birmingham Library service, the biggest metropolitan library authority in the
UK with 40 community libraries and the busiest lending library in Europe
installed the Galaxy 2000 LMS in 1994 and the upgraded it to a newer version
in 1999. Galaxy 2000 offers the usual LMS modules but also has a separate
issuing function for use of the Birmingham’s housebound service. The OPAC
module of Galaxy is known as Viewpoint and there have been some 230
Viewpoint terminals located throughout Birmingham since 1994.

LIBERTAS
The stand-alone LMS LIBERTAS, of SLS, was designed with assistance from
many of the systems librarians who were working in the libraries of member
universities of the SWALCAP co-operative. LIBERTAS was launched in 1986 and
initially incorporated modules for cataloguing, OPAC, and circulation control.
Leeves with Russell report 46 users of LIBERTAS in UK libraries by the mid-
1990s. Bradford outlines the advantages and disadvantages of using the ILL
module of LIBERTAS at Bristol University, which was an original member of
SWALCAP. In 1997 SLS was sold to III and support for the LIBERTAS system
declined.

Talis
The other early co-operative for library automation in the UK was BLCMP- or
Birmingham Libraries Co-operative Mechanisation project. Like SWALCAP it
had developed stand-alone software for its members which, in the early 1990s,
was known as BLS – BLCMP’s Library System- and included modules for
acquisitions, OPAC, circulation control and serials control. In 1992 BLCMP
announced a new Unix-based system known as Talis. Like LIBERTAS, Talis had
been designed in conjunction with the co-operative’s member libraries. It was
based on a modular principles using computing industry standards for an open
systems design. Among the early users of Talis were the John Rylands Library
of the University of Manchester and the public library of the Royal Borough of
Kingston upon Thames. Leeves with Russell report 30 users of Talis in the mid-
1990s, most of which were university or public libraries in the UK. Wilson
describes the experiences of migrating from BLS to Talis at Nene College, the
first institution to undertake this migration and produced a lengthy list of
‘morals of migration’. In 1999 the organisation supplying Talis ceased being a
co-operative of member libraries and became a commercial company. This
decision followed much consultation with the members of the co-operative
and the new company stated that strong customer relationships and customer
focus would remain central to the culture of the business.
There were some important features that can be able to find from those LMSs,
They are,
- Technological developments
- Self service
- Messages to users by e-mail or text
- Catalogue record provision
- Use of project management methodologies
- Closer links between LMSs and archives
- Human aspects

However the existing systems are not suitable with the library in KDU because
these systems are highly costing to purchase and they do not meet all the
requirements of the KDU Library system. Many of these systems are complex
up to some level, but the requirement is to build a much more user friendly
and simple system to the KDU Library.

Approach

Scope of Project:

To make the existing system more efficient.

To provide a user friendly environment where user can be serviced
better.
Make functioning of library faster.
Provide a system where the library staff can catch defaulters and not
let them escape.
To minimize the loss done to books.

Inputs to the System

Membership Details
Member Name, Address, Contact Number, DOB, Enlisted Date,
Type of membership and etc.

Books Details
Title of the Book, Author’s Name, Publisher, Published Year, ISBN
Number,

Process of the System

The Library Management System automates the basic library functions
to aid in the day-to-day operations of a library. It supports functions such as
issue, return, the very basic functions of searching for a particular book, etc.
It also maintains data about books about books, teachers, students records
that are required during various library operations. The software aims to make
the system user friendly and efficient.

The functions that the Library Management System provides are as follows:
1. INSERT: This operation is performed when new data needs to be added
to the system, for e.g. when department purchases a new book, the
book’s entry is inserted in the books database. This option has three
choices:
a) Book: This choose allows entering data about newly purchased
books into the books database. The data entered includes book’s
author, title, publisher, cost and various other fields provided in
the form. The data must be accurate and must be entered in the
correct format as indicated in the forms.
b) Teacher: This option is used for entering data for a new teacher in
the teacher’s database. This option is chosen when a teacher joins
college.
c) Student: This will enter new record for a student in student’s
database. This option is chosen when a student is enrolled in the
college.
2. DELETE: This operation clears the existing records in the various
databases. It is used when for e.g. a member leaves college or when
book is disposed of from library. But care must be taken while
performing this operation and permission taken from the head of library
because the system could lose any important data.
It can be performed on all databases and on three choices are:
a) Book: This will enter a null value for the book whose accession
number is entered in the field provided in the respected form.
This operation is done when a book is disposed of the library.
b) Teacher: This will clear the record for a particular teacher whose
identification number is entered. This option is chosen when a
teacher leaves college.
c) Student: This will clear the record for the particular student whose
record needs to be deleted by entering her roll number in the
required field. This option is chosen when a student leaves
college.
3. UPDATE: This function updates data in the various records. This
operation is supported by all the three entries:
a) Book: This function generally would not be required for updating a
book’s status as that data wouldn’t change.
b) Teacher: This will update the data of particular teacher, whose
data has changed like address, phone number, etc. by entering
her identification number.
c) Student: This will update the data of student like address, course,
etc. by entering student’s roll number.
4. SEARCH: This function is used to search particular data from the
database. This function can search for data related to all the
Three entities:
a) Book: To search for a particular book, to know whether it is
currently available in library or not. This can be done by entering
value in any one or more fields in the form to perform the search
such as title or author name.
b) Teacher: This will find out the particular teacher who currently has
the book for which search is being carried out.
c) Student: This will find out the particular student who possesses
the particular book.
5. ISSUE: This operation is used for issuing a book to a member of the
library. For this operation to be successful the member must meet
Some criteria like she should not have issued books to her maximum
Limit previously. All these checks are done by software. If the
Operation is successful, then the system automatically stores the date of
Issue and the due date by which the book must be returned.
a) Student: When a student loans a book, the entry of the book is
stored automatically in the student’s database with the due date
of that book.
b) Teacher: In case a member of teaching staff loans a book the entry
is stored in teacher’s database with the due date of the book.
6. RETURN: Using this operation a member returns the items, which she
loaned, from the library back to it. If the book, which is loaned is not
returned within specified time the member ends up as a defaulter and
she is required to pay fine which is calculated automatically by the
software.
a) Teacher: It will delete the corresponding entry made in
teacher’s database.
b) Student: It will delete the corresponding entry made in
student’s database.
7. DISPLAY: This is used to display each and every record, i.e. record of
every book, teacher and student in the library.
a) Book: Record of every book, i.e. its accession number, author
name, publisher name, etc.
b) Teacher: Record of every teacher, i.e. her id, department, no. of
books issued, etc., who is member of the college library.
c) Student: Record of every student, i.e. her roll number, course,
no of books issued, etc., who is member of the college library.
8. EXIT: This takes user out of the application.