Design and Implementation of a Computerized NIPSS Library System

Ojebisi, I1*Choji, D.N2

1. Department of Computer Science, National Open University of Nigeria.
2. Department of Computer Science, University of Jos,Plateau State Nigeria.
*
E-mail: [email protected]

The research is financed by independent loan

ABSTRACT

Most educational institutions in Nigeria, such as the Universities, Polytechnics and

Colleges of Education still operate on the manual method of library functions of acquisition,
cataloging and circulation. This paper examines the inadequacies involved in the manual method
of acquisition, cataloging and circulation functions of a library and proposes a solution by
developing a software Application to facilitate the automated processing of these library
functions. The software was developed using Visual Basic 6.0 and employing MSACCESS
Relational Database Management System in designing the database. The developed software was
tested and found to perform well and produced expected results on completion. With this
program, it was possible to record books that were acquired by the National Institute for Policy
and Strategic Studies, (NIPSS) as well as the cataloging and the circulation section of the library.
The new system has some qualities such as reduction in the cost of processing of information,
reduction in time spent in the acquisition, cataloging and circulation of books, increase in
accuracy and efficiency, and elimination of duplication of effort which makes it superior to the
manual system of information processing. This new system is flexible and can be modified to
suit any kind of library and data processing.

Keywords: Library functions, Automated Library, Computerized Library, Acquisition, Cataloging,

Circulation

Introduction
The idea of easy, finger-tip access to information is what we conceptualize as digital
libraries today began with Vannenar Bush’s Memex machine (Bush, 1945) and has continued to
evolve with each advancement in information technology. With the arrival of computers, the
concept centered on large bibliographic databases, the now familiar online retrieval and public
access systems that are part of any contemporary library. When computers were connected into
large networks forming the Internet, the concept evolved again, and research turned to creating
libraries of digital information that could be accessed by anyone from anywhere in the world.
Phrases like “virtual library,” “electronic library,” “library without walls” and, most recently,
“digital library,” all have been used interchangeably to describe this broad concept.
Library is a fast growing sector; the ancient methods of maintaining it are no longer effective and
efficient for retrieval and dissemination of information and better services for the users.
Applications of cutting edge technology have become paramount. A perfect/correctly
computerized library will help its users with quick and prompt services. It is often stated that
libraries are born when people began to organize information and provide access to that
information.
 The evolution of library started with the clay tablets and papyrus plants nearly 5,000
years ago as early as 3020BC, not long after this the use of scroll came into play before the
switch to codex format developed by the Romans in the 1st century A.D from wooden writing
tablets. Codex was the first and current format of the Bible. Card catalogs and digital libraries
got their start in the 1800s, digital libraries were created to accommodate various forms of
technology including print, microform and of course the internet. They have also helped in the
transition of libraries from the use of card catalogs as a book searching tool. Khan and Wilensky
(1995) described the basic infrastructure of a digital library which is “open in its architecture and
which supports a large and extensive class of distributed digital information services”.
Library automation/computerization refers to mechanization of library operations predominantly
by computerization Kochar and Sudarshan (2008). The most commonly known operations of a
library are acquisition control, serials control, cataloguing and classification and circulation
control. Library automation or Integrated Library System (ILS) is an enterprise resource
planning systems for a library used to track, items owned, order made etc. The implementation of
the program written by the researcher and the deployment of the e-Granary that the ICT
Department just acquired for the Library will fully automate the library operations of the
National Institute. e-Granary is a collection of numerous and diverse databases of information on
different fields, while the Visual basic programme integrated with Microsoft Access will enable
the automation of a database for the existing books in the library.

The Library System

Organizations all over the world have problems which vary depending on management
and financial buoyancy. In the case of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies
(NIPSS), Kuru, the library is faced with series of problem from lack of funding which has been
going on for a number of years and has led to inadequate collection of books, journals, and
working tools. Materials in the library are obsolete and outdated; all library activities are still
being done manually, the only electronic service being rendered is the searching of materials on
the internet which internet is a facility the library has access to.
Lack of training and the zeal of self-improvement is a problem as some staff of the
library are not current, thereby lacks the knowledge of how a modern library operates. Also, the
purchase of newspaper in the library is becoming a thing of the past as it is now a problem for
the library to buy newspapers for people to read. The only reason why people patronize the
library is to access past participant projects, tour reports and concluding seminar reports which
can only be found on the Institute Library.
In the book, The Digital Library Project: The World of Knowbots by Robert E. Kahn and
Vinton G. Cerf (1988), the volume describes an open architecture for the development of a
Digital Library System. It says that:
“many users of such a system, even those with only
limited or even no knowledge of information
technology, can benefit enormously from quick and
easy access to the information it contains”.
An open architecture system is designed to accommodate a broad class of users both researchers
and people that are just beginning to use the computer as far as you can read, write and maneuver
your way around the computer to access information. This system also allows individuals and
organizations to include their own material in the Digital Library System or to take advantage of
network based information and services offered by others. It includes data that may be internal to
a given organization and that which crosses organizational boundaries.
 The productivity gains from having access to a Digital Library System are easily as large
as those derived from internal combustion engines and electric motors in the early part of this
century. Just as a car on an interstate highway is vastly more effective than one on a rutted dirt
road, computer-based information "vehicles" can be made dramatically more effective given the
proper operating environment. Computer and communications technology has made it possible
for old fashioned, slow retrieval methods to be replaced by virtually instantaneous electronic
retrieval. Each user of this technology can anticipate enormous potential benefit, but we lack the
natural infrastructure to support this capability on a widespread basis today. This absence of
infrastructure represents both a barrier and an opportunity of dramatic proportions.
Sabrina I. Pacifici (1997) titled Virtual Libraries: Myth and Reality. Virtual library is a system
by which user’s access information that resides solely in electronic format on computer
networks, without respect to physical location of the information.
In this book, Sabrina deduced that:
“virtual library exists independently of the amount or nature of the
electronic information to which it provides access. There are no
limits on the size, content or value of data in a virtual library”.
The concept of the virtual library is attracting increased interest because of the burgeoning
medium called the World Wide Web. Some technology-happy circles are heralding the virtual
library as the single most comprehensive and valuable source of information in the world--and
the inevitable replacement for the traditional library. A groundswell of voices chanting the
mantra, "You can get everything you want off the Internet" has created the myth of the
unassailable dominance of the Internet.
Sabrina further argues about the Myth and Reality of the digital libraries stating
that:
“While libraries are permanent archives of information, the
Internet is often no more than a temporary host to only the most
current information on a given topic. Therefore, while a virtual
library can be an excellent electronic resource, it is not a
replacement for the traditional library”.
While libraries are quintessential examples of information order, the Internet has been described
as "information chaos." Another obvious advantage of traditional libraries over virtual ones:
Because of copyright laws, books are rarely found on the digital shelves of virtual libraries. With
the exception of those in the public domain, such as Moby Dick and the collected works of
Shakespeare and Dante, few have been legally transferred, with appropriate permission, to the
Internet. Information about books abounds on the Internet, but transferring their content to an
online environment erases the required distinctions between publisher, writer, owner and
consumer. In the digital environment, the act of copying and distributing material is as easy as a
couple of key strokes, and therefore creates more problems for the already controversial area of
"fair use" rights. Distribution on the Internet is global, and once material appears in a virtual
library, its duplication cannot be controlled. Currently, there exists no universal control
mechanism to impose a fee structure for its use. Implementing some kind of online metered use
of information in the digital environment is an overwhelmingly difficult task for a system that
purports to be free, and there is no evidence that this issue will be resolved any time in the near
future.
Definitions, Issues and Challenges of automated library by Gary Cleveland, (1998), Gary
Cleveland tried to examine different definitions of a digital library and it concluded by saying
that a fairly spectacular example of what many people consider to be a digital library today is the
World Wide Web. The Web is a gathering of thousands and thousands of documents. Many
would call this huge collection a digital library because they can find information, just as they
can do banking in a “digital bank” or buy compact discs in a “digital record store.” Yet, is the
Web a digital library? According to Clifford Lynch, once of the leading scholars in the area of
digital library research, it is not. Lynch (1997:52) states:
One sometimes hears the Internet characterized
as the world's library for the digital age. This
description does not stand up under even casual
examination. The Internet¾ and particularly its
collection of multimedia resources known as the
World Wide Web¾ was not designed to support
the organized publication and retrieval of
information as libraries are. It has evolved into
what might be thought of as a chaotic repository
for the collective output of the world's digital
"printing presses.".... ...In short, the Net is not a
digital library.

Thus, in examining the various examples of what are called digital libraries, it appears that
librarians have been confused about what a digital library is, that the word “library” has been
appropriated by many different groups to describe either their areas of research or signify a
simple collection of digital objects.
With the assumption that digital libraries are libraries first and foremost, we can list some
characteristics. These characteristics have been gleaned from various discussions about digital
libraries, both online and in print (Lynch and Garcia-Molina, 1995):
• digital libraries are the digital face of traditional libraries that include both digital
collections and traditional, fixed media collections. So they encompass both electronic
and paper materials.
• digital libraries will also include digital materials that exist outside the physical and
administrative bounds of any one digital library
• digital libraries will include all the processes and services that are the backbone and
nervous system of libraries. However, such traditional processes, though forming the
basis digital library work, will have to be revised and enhanced to accommodate the
differences between new digital media and traditional fixed media.
• digital libraries ideally provide a coherent view of all of the information contained within
a library, no matter its form or format
• digital libraries will serve particular communities or constituencies, as traditional libraries
do now, though those communities may be widely dispersed throughout the network.
• digital libraries will require both the skills of librarians and well as those of computer
scientists to be viable.
One thing digital libraries will not be is a single, completely digital system that provides
instant access to all information, for all sectors of society, from anywhere in the world. This is
simply unrealistic. This concept comes from the early days when people were unaware of the
complexities of building digital libraries. Instead, they will most likely be a collection of
disparate resources and disparate systems, catering to specific communities and user groups,
created for specific purposes. They also will include, perhaps indefinitely, paper-based
collections. Further, interoperability across digital libraries of technical architectures, metadata,
and document formats will also only likely be possible within relatively bounded systems
developed for those specific purposes and communities.
The writer also outlined the challenges in creating digital libraries which I will list below:
a. Technical architecture
b. Building digital collections
c. Digitization
d. Metadata
e. Naming, identifiers, and persistence
f. Copyright/rights management
g. Preservation

Another paper with similar goal of digital libraries is a lecture titled Digital Library:
Definition to Implementation, delivered at Ranganthan Research Circle in Delhi by Sukhdev
Singh (2003).
In this paper he quoted according to Gladney H.M et. al (1994) saying:
“a digital library service is an assemblage of digital computing,
storage, and communications machinery together with software
needed to reproduce, emulate, and extend the services provided by
conventional libraries based on paper and other material means of
collecting, storing, cataloguing, finding, and disseminating
information.”
According to them a digital library is a machine-readable representation of materials,
which might be found in conventional library. Along with this representation, organizing
information is also available to assist users in finding specific information. Association of
research libraries (1995) has identified the following five elements in various definitions of the
digital libraries:
1. The digital library is not a single entity;
2. The digital library requires technology to link the resources of many;
3. The linkages between the many digital libraries and information services are
transparent to the end users;
4. Universal access to digital libraries and information services is a goal;
5. Digital library collections are not limited to document surrogates: they extend to
digital artifacts that cannot be represented or distributed in printed formats.
Sukhdev Singh also pointed out the major characteristics of digital library based on Chowdhury
GG and Chowdhry S (2003) as follows:
• Variety of digital information resources
• Digital Libraries reduce the need for physical space
• Users at remote
• Users may build their own personal collections by the facilities provided by Digital
Library
• Provide access to distributed information resources
• Same information resource can be shared mmany at the same time
• Paradigm shift both in use and ownership
• Collection development be based on potential usefulness and appropriate filtering
mechanisms be followed to negotiate the problem of plenty
• Ability to handle multilingual content
• Presupposes the absence of human intermediaries
 • Should provide better searching and retrieval facilities
• Digital information can be used and viewed differently by different people
• Digital library breaks the time, space and language barrier.
Sukhdev Singh further went on to compared digital libraries as against the conventional libraries
and the myths of digital libraries.
The final document to be reviewed in this chapter is titled Application of Information
Technology in Special Libraries of Manipur: A Case Study by Arambam Hileima Devi and Th.
Purnima Devi. The paper highlights the problem of IT (Information Technology) in six (6)
selected special libraries in Manipur. The main problems of application of IT in these special
libraries were the lack of fund. The state Government is not in a position to provide adequate
funds for automating these special libraries. The authors also discusses about the requisite of IT
to improve the condition of the special libraries of Manipur state. It also mentioned the problems
of IT application and also suggested some solutions to overcome the problems.
Information explosion, a phenomenon of the past few decades, resulted in the exponential
growth of printed matters, which created problems of bibliographical control, storage and
dissemination of information. This adversely affected the service to users who had by now
become more conscious and appreciative of the value of information. Information is a vital
resource for socio-economic development. Due to the growth of Information explosion, its use
becomes so wide spread and there is a greater need of applying certain technology to information
works and activities to accelerate its use. It enables the storage, processing, retrieval and
dissemination of information quickly and easily. The earlier libraries were open to their clientele
for consultation within their premises. They have undergone radical changes and expanded their
services over the years. The modern libraries offer a variety of services like circulation of
reading materials, reference services to the users, local information services to their clients,
getting reading materials for the users from other libraries on inter-library loan, on-line
information services at national and international levels etc. Information Technology (IT) covers
all activities and technologies that involve the handling of information by electronic means i.e.
information acquisition, storage, retrieval, processing, transmission and control. IT has
influenced simple business activity to high level research and development work. The quality of
work and activities has been greatly changed by the presents of application of IT. With the
introduction of modern information technology in libraries, the role of library and information
science personnel is undergoing a qualitative change. It is becoming a vital component in the
overall resource management of Library and Information Centers. The library environment has
been leading towards digital and the concept of ‘Electronic Library’ i.e. paperless documentation
and information services has been taking place. “Library Automation” is used to refer the
extensive use of mechanical, electronic or microelectronic equipments to perform the functions
and activities associated with libraries such as acquisition, serial control, cataloguing and
circulation. computers are of great significant with the advancement of telecommunication and
reprography technologies facilitate information scanning and retrieval of details of micro and
macro documents over vast distances in no time.

1.4Packages used for Designing the Library Software

This software was developed using Visual Basic 6.0 and employing MSACCESS Relational
Database Management System in designing the database.
2. Materials and Methods
The computer software application is required to be independent of any platform. It is desired to
have three main sections, namely: the login window, the main menu and sub menu. The login
window requests a valid user name and password from the Administrator to be able to gain
access into the software.
The Administrator is any staff that is authorize by the management of the institution to be in
charge of the library, hence he should have a valid user name and password created by him to be
able to login to the software. The Administrator should be able to perform the following
function:

• View, edit, delete from the Catlog list,

• Search for books according to their titles,
• Add new books using the Acquisition tab,
• View/Add checked-out books that have been borrowed,
• View/Add checked-in books that have been returned.

3. Results and Discussions

The developed software application was run on the system and found to operate as expected. The
login screen is as shown below. Once the user is able to log in, the main window appears.
If the password entered is valid, the software will then open the main page. The main
page/window has five tabs; the catlog list, Acquisition, Circulation and the exit tab. The catlog
tab is where the user can view the list of books, search for books according to their title, edit and
delete any book from the catlog list. The acquisition tab is where new books are entered into the
system to be added to the catlog list. The circulation also is where borrowed books can be
viewed and registered and returned books can also be viewed and registered. The last tab which
is the exit tab is to quit the program.

4. Conclusion and Recommendations

4.1 Conclusion
In order to introduce the use of computers into the manual operation of the library, careful
investigation and analyses were carried out on the existing method. Many text and journal
(handbook) records were consulted to have an in-depth and thorough understanding of the major
concepts of operations. This work finally presented a software application meant to ease the
operation of the library in The National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru.
The application was successfully developed, tested, and found to be working as expected. The
Application software is flexible and can be modified to suite any kind of library and data
processing. It is easy to use due to the use of a GUI (Graphical user interface) rather than
command-line approach, reasonably secure, and enforces data integrity resulting from the use of
a relational database management system. With this application, library functions can be
automated to a large extent, thereby reducing processing time and increasing accuracy.

4.2 Recommendations
The efficiency of the software can be further enhanced based on the following recommendations:
Effort should be made to validate the input data to ensure the integrity of the system. The
primary users should be given an initial orientation on how to interact with the system for
optimal utilization of the facilities of the system.

Acknowledgements
A great appreciation goes to everybody who has made valuable contributions in this study and
their critical comments on this manuscript. The effort of Alh. Bawa is acknowledged in
conceptualizing the design of this system and making the implementation and testing of this
system possible and practicable.

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universities", Electronic Library, The, Vol. 23 Iss: 3, pp.274 - 288 ...
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in Special Libraries of Manipur: A Case Study.
Bush, V., “As We May Think”, Atlantic Monthly, July 1945, pp. 101-108.
E-Learning Report 2005: A Foundation for Transformation
Gladney H.M et. al. (1994) Digital Library: Gross structure and requirements: Report from a
workshop. IBM Research Report, RJ 9840, May 1994.
Khan, R. E., & Cerf, V.G. (1988), The Digital Library Project Volume I: The World of
Knowbots, (DRAFT): An Open Architecture For a Digital Library System
and a Plan For Its Development. Reston, VA: Corporation for National
Research Initiatives.
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Journal, 24(2), pp107-113, Available: http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla62/62-
kuny.pdf
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Fig. 1: The program’s flow chart

The program flow Chart

Start

User Account

Validate User

Invalid Account

Is User No
Valid
?

Yes
Is User Is User
No library No
Admin
? staff
?

Yes Yes
Enable Tabs Enable read only view
Enable all modules for catlog list

Perform operation

Close the software

Stop
 Fig.2: Log in Page (Validates user account before access is granted)

Fig. 3: TheMain Page/window showing the main menu and the side menu
Figure 4: Catlog List

Figure 5: Acquisition Control

Figure 6: Circulation Control