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DESIGNING A LIBRARY PORTAL FOR ALL NATIONS UNIVERSITY COLLEGE-A CASE STUDY
Oware HenriettaFinal year MLIS
Bharathidasan UniversityTrichy 24
INTRODUCTION
Providing the right information to the right user at the right time is a major
challenge for libraries. In recent years, digital resources are growing and developing
very fast creating challenges in information searching, service provision and resource
discovery.
Universities and other research organizations are providing significant financial
support to libraries. A large proportion of this is going into the subscription of thousands
of online resources each year, such as online databases, e-journals and e-books.
In this context, it is very much relevant and immense need for the libraries
associated to higher academic and research institutions have to design a web portal or
internet based information system that give single points access to all the knowledge
resources pertaining to the curricula, programmes offered and as to the customized to the
information requirements of the stakeholders. So the present study is made on attempt
to design a prototype model for All Nations University College Library users and the
staff.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
• The main aim of the library portal is to fulfill information
requirements of the faculty members, students,
researchers in the All Nations University.
• To design a web enabled information system that links all
the scholarly resources, services, facilities as to the
requirements of university programmes, functions and the
users.
HOW DOES PORTAL DIFFER FROM WEB SITE, AND SEARCH ENGINE
INTERNET PORTALS originated as the librarian of the Web. The
word "portal,” meaning “door,” has been used to characterize Web sites commonly
known for offering search and navigation tools. (Circa 1996) a portal was used to
catalog the available content from the Internet, acting as a “hub” from which users
could locate and link to desired content.
A WEB SITE is a related collection of World Wide Web (WWW) files
that includes a beginning file called a homepage. A company or an individual tells
how to get to their Web site by giving the address of their home page. From the
home page, one can get to all the other pages on their site.
SEARCH ENGINES attempt to help a user to locate desired information
or resources by seeking matches to user-specified key words.
COMPONENTS OF LIBRARY PORTALS
A LIBRARY‘S WEB PRESENCE. A library website can be made up of three types of content: Information about the library - staff directories, departmental descriptions, maps of the building, hours, etc.
ELECTRONIC VERSIONS OF TRADITIONAL LIBRARY SERVICES - online tutorials, book renewals, interlibrary loan requests and status reports, requests for purchase, online chat/reference, virtual tours of the building(s), etc.
ACCESS TO LIBRARY CONTENT - catalogs, indexes, full-text magazines and journals, digitized special collections, free and commercial eBooks, government documents, freely accessible Internet resources, electronic encyclopedias and dictionaries, licensed content from vendors, etc.
USER AUTHENTICATION: Also known as patron authentication, determines whether clients are eligible for service by checking the clients against a library database. This authentication is usually done with a proxy server to limit access to resources the patron is authorized to use.
FUNCTIONS OF A PORTAL
EASE OF USE: The foremost feature to be considered is the ease-of-use,
which can be determined by the effectively organized home page.
SEARCH AND NAVIGATION: a successful portal support s its users in an
efficient search for contents.
PERSONALIZATION: each user gets only the information which is
specifically tailored to his/her needs.
INTEGRATION OF APPLICATIONS/BUSINES INTELLIGENCE: a
portal can integrate and support a specific application type, for example:
an Application Service Provider (ASP) application
Business Intelligence (BI) functionality
Support for e-commerce
THE ROLE OF THE LIBRARIAN AS SELECTOR AND ORGANIZER OF INFORMATION ON THE WEB
• CONTENT: Academic librarians provide credible content that has been
selected for a specific learning community.
• COPYRIGHT: Librarians provide guidance in determining which web-
based materials are under copyright and seek permission for use of these
works with the Copyright Clearance Center and other agencies.
• CUSTOMER SERVICE: Librarians have developed a number of ways
to extend person-to-person reference service in a digital environment that
are applicable in supporting portal use on campus.
• PORTAL EDUCATORS: Librarians as Information Architects teach the
clients how to navigate the library portal and make use of the various
features offered by such portals.
MAJOR LIBRARY PORTALS
http://www.oclc.org/middleeast/en/global/default.htm
KNUST LIBRARY (KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY)
• http://www.knust.edu.gh/pages/sections.php?siteid=knust&mid=15&sid=86
PROFILE OF ALL NATIONS UNIVERSITY COLLEGE – KOFORIDUA, GHANA
All Nations University College (ANUC) is the brain child of Dr Samuel
Donkor, Senior Pastor of All Nations Full Gospel Church. ANUC was the answer
to the question, “What can we do to help for the development of Africa?” The
answer, focuses on higher education. The Diaspora in Toronto from over 60 other
countries accepted the challenge to build All Nations University College.
It became the mission of the All Nations Full Gospel Church and later the
All Nations International Development Agency (ANIDA), an NGO which
facilitated the development of the University. After many years of consultations
with the Ministry of Education, the University finally presented its Master Plan to
the Ministry and received the authority to establish the All Nations University
College in May 1996 from the National Accreditation Board. The University was
incorporated in the same year and has since worked toward the realization of the
collective dream.
DEPARTMENTS
• OIL & GAS ENGINEERING: The Bachelor of Engineering (Oil and Gas)
programme is aimed at training indigenous engineers who can participate in the
development of the operations, and in the near future, direct the operations
consistent with, and procure equipment required for, operations at conditions
favorable to Ghana’s national interests.
BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING: The Department of Biomedical Engineering
was established for the purpose of contributing to the growing health needs of
Ghana in the area of hospital equipment and technical expertise. The department is currently focusing on the following research areas:• Biosensors• Medical Image Processing• Bio signal processing• Clinical engineering- Rehabilitation engineering and Bioinformatics• Biomaterials
COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING:• Wireless sensor networks• VLSI design• Embedded systems• Networking• Digital signal processing• Programmable logic controller.• Digital Image Processing
Other Departments are: BIBLICAL STUDIES
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION : with the following options
• Accounting and Finance
• Banking and Finance
• Marketing
• Human Resource Management
• Entrepreneurial Studies
HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES: The Department offers general
courses in Language skills (English, French and communication). Mathematics,
Physics, Chemistry, Sociology, Research Methodology, Psychology, Law and other
humanities and science courses, for a well-grounded education
ALL NATIONS UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
ANUC has a library with a physical stock of over 40,000 (forty thousand)
volumes of books that cover all courses offered by the University College including
Students Theses and CDs.
ALL NATIONS UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY
Table:1 Department wise Faculty, Students, and Staff
PROGRAMME
NO. OF
STUDENTS
NO. OF
FACULTY PHD MPHIL MASTERSADMIN STAFF
BUS. ADM 2,025 30 6 10 14 50
OIL & GAS 285 10 2 - 8
COMP. SCIEN 509 14 1 1 12
ELEC.& COMM 421 18 - - 18
BIOM. ENGG. 413 11 1 1 9
BIB. STUDIES 517 10 1 3 6
HUMANITIES 86 11 1 2 8
TOTAL 4256 104 12 17 75
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
All Nations University is a university with a large number of students. The
university has a library with only printed copies of documents and some CDs which
covers the courses being offered to the students. Although students visit the internet
to seek information but may not get the relevant requirements.
Librarians have become increasingly aware that the multiplication of electronic
resources is a problem for end-users. Users find it difficult to locate the most
appropriate database or resource to search for information relevant to their need.
Even if they locate the right resources, since each service tends to have its own
unique interface, they may struggle to search it effectively.
This new reality translates into the need for making library web environments
effective and useful. Hence the present study ‘Designing Library Portal for All
Nations University College: A Case Study’ has taken up by the researcher.
DESIGNING A LIBRARY PORTAL
IDENTIFYING THE USERS’ GOALS AND EXPECTATIONS: The ultimate
goal of effective Web design is to arrange your site so that it anticipates your users’
needs and expectations. Hence identifications of user needs and desires in accessing the
information resources has been made to design the study.
DEFINING THE SITE’S CONTENT AREAS : Once the content has been identified
the researcher has completely explode the site and accessed the extent of the relevance
and the usefulness of these resources according to the users of All Nations University
College Library.
ORGANIZING THE CONTENT AREAS: The content that were exploded, analyzed
and reviewed are organized with relevant links and heading that was hierarchically and
associate with the programmes and the services of the university.
FREE WEBSITES FOR WEB DESIGNING (open Access)
The present study use the free and open access website/web portal software tool to
design the All Nations University Library Portal a review of some of the open source website
developing tools were given below.
Homestead
Open Source Web Design
Fullsail
Wix
Terapad.com
Webs
Moonfruit
Yola
Webnode.com
PORTAL CONTENTS The ANUC portal home pages contains information about online databases,
journals, books, theses and dissertations, conferences, patents and standards, etc., which are freely available on the web.
Library Collections: All Nations University Library having various collection like Books, Journals, Magazines, Newsletters, CDs, Theses, Back volumes, etc., This page the portal gives access to all these resources.
Electronic Resources : All Nations University library portal provides electronic resources search as bibliographic databases, full text databases, Search Engines, Subject Gateways and Reference styles(open access) for all students, and faculty members and other users on their various subjects.
SUBJECT GATEWAYS: Subject Gateways for the various courses offered in All nations University College. Example: SOSIG, BUBL, Cs Computer Science, Ads arts and humanities data services, etc.
SEARCH ENGINES: will enable the all Nations University users to browse on the web through these search engines such as Scirus, NDLTD, Journal TOC, Canada.com, Google, Big search engine index and Hotbox.
Library Services Chat with Librarian
FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION In the age of information explosion, when everybody is talking of information
overload, satisfying users’ information needs in a simple, personalized and efficient
way is becoming a challenge for library and information centers.
Just subscribing to online sources does not serve the purpose until and unless the
users are informed about them so that such resources are fully utilized.
The budget at the disposal of libraries is limited and the demand for information by
the researchers is increasing, whereas the time at their disposal is limited.
Hence, such portals are important as they are user friendly and provide information
through a single window.
It is extremely useful for researchers as they can find all the information related to
their discipline at one place.
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