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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Insight into Library System
A library can be defined as a room or building where
books are kept and referenced. It is an area of multifarious
activity on book management. A library as a repository of
knowledge, houses collections of books, both reference and
general, technical reports, periodicals, journals, conference
proceedings and the likes. Consequently, truth and knowledge
can be found and acquired from the library through the
aforementioned sources. The information contents of any of the
collections can be recorded on microfilms, audiotapes,
microchips and other materials traditionally kept in the library,
which is charged with the responsibility of acquiring,
organizing, maintaining, and judicial circulation of the books
and other library materials through the various sections of the
library, for efficient use of the library by the users.
The acquisition, cataloguing, bindery and circulation
sections of the library undertake the acquiring, organizing,
maintaining and circulation of the books/library materials
respectively. When the library through the acquisition section of the library acquires a book, its record is taken and accession
number is given to the book after which the book will be sent
to cataloguing section of the library. Under this section, the
book will be carefully studied and given catalogue number
before it will be sent to circulation section of the library as the
case may be. The circulation section is responsible for
circulation or distribution of books.
This section also arranges the consulted books in the
shelves.
There are other sections like reference section, which provides
reference questions and bibliographic service, and serial section
where periodical, journals and related materials are kept. The
library also houses special collections and also operates
circulation
control in which books are lent to users. In fact it is indeed a
place of multifarious activities on book management.
Historical Overview of Library System
Libraries originated with writing about 6000 years ago and
that was when writing was being done using materials like bones, clay, wax, papyrus, metals, silk, leather, parchment,
paper, and other available materials. Later, these materials
were assembled together to form libraries.
Among the earliest libraries were ANCIENT LIBRARIES OF
CLAY, which emerged in Iraq and other Mesopotamian
region like Syria and Turkey. In these libraries, records were
kept on clay tablets. Within that period were also ANCIENT
LIBRARIES OF ANIMAL SKIN and ANCIENT LIBRARIES OF
PAPYRUS of which Alexandria libraries in Egypt were the
examples. These libraries invariably were connected with
temples, for these institutions were the centers of the whole
life of the whole communities.
Moreover, it is widely believed that the private and
institutional libraries are traceable to Egypt and Greece
respectively, and the emergence of public libraries started in
Rome. Libraries studies was given a boost by Julius Caesar
during the first century of the Roman especially with his
conferment of the Franchise privilege on all foreign teachers
of liberal education residing in Rome. However, it was
Augustus, who succeeded Caesar that gave a greater impact
to scholarship development. He founded the first public libraries in Rome (69 – 70 AD). He established a library in
the temple of peace, which formed the nucleus of a school
of higher learning at a later time.
The history of library development in Nigeria is of recent
vintage. In fact, the earliest library in Nigeria was Tom
Jones Library, which was established in 1910. That was the
first public subscription library in Nigeria. The beginning of
academic library was marked in Nigeria with the founding of
Yaba Higher College in 1948. Later on the British council
took over the library sense with the foundation of the first
municipal council library in Lagos, and established British
council libraries in various parts of the country.
Unfortunately, these became a great loss of library stock
after the Nigerian Civil War, and the federal government
then took it as part of its rehabilitation effort in
promulgating the National Library’s decree of 1970, which
provided for the branches to be set up in every state of the
federation. Hence repealing the former National Library Act
1964. Within the first decade of its existence, the National
Library has succeeded in stock over 75000 volumes, 2000 period leads, 150 Newspapers and became a depository for
the United Nations Organization (UNO) and its agencies.
With the increase in establishment of universities all over
the country, the government of Nigeria also sees the
essence of providing library in every institution of learning.
Now, Nigeria can boast of libraries in all the higher
institutions of learning, almost all the academic
establishments and even private and public establishments.
There are also National and state libraries throughout the
states of federation. But all these libraries have one problem
in common; the backwardness in the automated library
world.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
In human endeavors, there are a lot of developments,
researches, and discoveries, which result in multifarious
production of publications and library materials. These have
brought increase in complexity of library system and its
operations.
Based on these, a number of problems are facing the library
systems, which include:
(i) Unnecessary delay in library processes.
(ii) High cost of staff recruitment and maintenance.
(iii) Error prone operations/processes.
(iv) Inefficiency in library operation.
(v) Too many paper work and replication of data on
multiple pieces of paper.
(vi) Unreliable card catalogue system.
(vii) Mutilation of books by students i.e. students
tear/hide books.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
There is hardly any aspect of human endeavor that is
today not being assisted by computerization. The objective
of this project: Design and Implementation of Digital Library
Services System with a reference to Caritas University
Library. The application program developed in this research
essentially monitors and keep records of the individual book
movement together with the operations going on in various
sections of the library particularly concerned with book
control. These operations include book lending, returning of
the borrowed books, reservation of books, acquisition processes, registration of users and other related activities
in Library management system.
In this study therefore, the researchers hope to
accomplish the following objectives:
1. To design a better way of avoiding loss of books in the
library.
2. To solve the problem of delay in locating books.
3. Assist the Liberian to carry out library operations more
effectively.
4. Eliminate manual operations in the library.
5. To achieve high efficiency in the library services.
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The study gave birth to a new system Digital Library Services
System) designed to bring efficiency in the library system
operations. It will eliminate some of the problems associated
with the old (manual) system of library management, which
include cost of equipment and staff maintenance and also allow
institutions to manage the affairs of libraries easily.
1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This project looks into the processes involved in keeping
tracks of the books in the library system. The researchers
concentrated on the operations going on in the Acquisition,
cataloging and most especially, circulation sections in the
library.
1.6 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
This study will not look in detail into other sections of the
library except the only three sections aforementioned. The intuitive works like reading of a book before classification and
technical work like ownership stamping conveyance of books
etc, this section is not part of this study.
1.7 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS
DESIGN: It is a detail plan or arrangement to achieve a
particular purpose.
SYSTEM: It is an assemblage of interrelated elements,
which we find interesting to study. It could be a process, a
machine or a program.
PROGRAM: It is a set of instructions and procedures that
tells the computer what to do.
APPLICATION: A program designed to perform
particular tasks.
RESEARCHERS: This refers to the developers of the
system in study (i.e. Richard).
USER: The user here refers to the library staff or the
people who make use of the library. It also refers to the
person who uses the program (e.g. library staff).
AUTOMATION/COMPUTERIZATION: It is a process of
making a system to carry out its processes on its own. That
without much helps from man.
MODULE: An independent unit that is part of a larger
development. It is the same thing as sub-tasks.
VISUAL LIBRARY SYSTEM: It is an application or program
designed by researchers to manage library operations. It is a
program designed with a visual programming language in
which the user will make use of a mouse in operating. It is
event driven and objects appear in their visual forms to the
user.
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