Coventry University/IAA Collaboration

MBA Logistic Management & I.T

2014/15

Partners in Development

Institute of Accountancy Arusha

COURSE : MBA - ITM

MODULE TITLE : Systems Development & Procurement

MODULE CODE : ARUM39EKEM

MODULE FACILITATORS : Mr. Bakari Ally, Mr Allan Msolla

ASSIGNMENT : Individual assignment.

DUE DATE : 13th January 2015

Student’s name : Julius Noble Ssekazinga

Registration number : MBA-IT/0218/T.2014

IntroductionAccording to Mr. Salvatory, librarian of Arusha Technical College, ATC has several library problems including the storage, Lack of security for borrowed books and those in the library.

A member issuing a book then all its details about its identification and books details is mentioned in a register manually.

Member /borrower have to search his its own in the very big library and then borrow it further

Members are given a library card in which librarian used to write the details of the book issued to the member.

Library card helps them to keep in track about the book issued and dead line follower.

Member are not able to issue / return the book until and unless he /she has that library card

This card acts as a identity in the library

According to Mitchell, (2003) and (Marsall, 2002) literature, The Online Library System improves the efficiency of Librarians, Library employees and Users. The Online Library System to be implemented benefits greatly the members and the Librarian of Arusha Technical College. The system provides books catalog and information to members and helps them decide on the books to borrow from the library. The Librarian can keep the books catalog updated all the time so that the members (students and the lecturers) get the updated information all the time.

Alternative system: Adlib library Management System

Having used the library management system Koha LibLime in our first situation, basing on the problem statement an alternative system is Adlib Library which is a professional software package for managing and sharing information in libraries, resource centers and related organizations. For more than 25 years, Adlib

Library has been successfully deployed in businesses, higher education, and healthcare,

cultural and legal institutions. Adlib Library improves the efficiency of management processes and ensures the accessibility of information wherever it is used. (Adlibsoft,2013)

Due to the speed at which library technology innovations are improving and advancing as Marshall (2009) explains, Adlib library system with its international standards (Adlibsoft, 2014) will help the ATC to compete and cater for its students on the an international market.

The key benefits of Adlib Library System:

Reduced total cost of ownership

Eliminates need for onsite hardware and maintenance overheads

Frees staff from routine maintenance and administration to be redeployed  to more high-priority tasks

Improves security and accuracy of your data with remote hosting on Adlib’s servers

Ensures you and your staff are using most up-to-date software with regular feeds of new features administered by Adlib

Other Characteristics and advantages (Adlibsoft, 2015)

Easy to learn, pleasant to use

Extremely clear screen design and intuitive Microsoft Office™ style toolbar, backed up by context-sensitive help and a spellchecker mean that even a novice Adlib user is soon contributing productive work. Each user can individually select many interface settings to tailor the system to suit their own needs; happy users are efficient users!

Cataloguing perfected

The Adlib Library system is centered on the catalogue, and here the emphasis is on clear, logical structure. Although very comprehensive in scope, the degree of detail to be entered into each catalogue entry can be determined by each library. The derive record function allows bibliographic records to be downloaded directly into the catalogue from a variety of on-line sources such as COPAC or Library of Congress, while powerful tools for managing terminology ensure that data is consistently recorded.

The standard catalogue includes the following functionality:

• Bibliographic description and imprint;• Abstract, classification and keywords; • Historical/rare book information; • Administrative data; • ISBD presentation; • Unlimited number of copies per title description;

International Standards

In order to make it easy to share and exchange catalogue data, Adlib Library includes support for relevant international standards, such as: SRU, ISBD/ AACR2, Z39.50, MARCXML, OAI-PMH.

Search options

Adlib Library offers you three effective search tools. The Search wizard is easy to use, and runs on a selection of indexed fields.

Scalable

Whether your collection is large or small (or growing at an alarming rate), an Adlib Library system is completely scalable and capable of holding millions of records, so you should not worry that you will outgrow it.

Safe and secure

Adlib Library employs a role-based security system. Pre-determined access rights may be assigned to roles, and roles are assigned to individual users or user-groups. Access to individual records can also be restricted or prevented, even if all the other records in the catalogue are accessible. This provides excellent protection against unauthorized access to data from users on your network or the internet.

Flexible reporting

The print wizard makes printing easy and efficient. You can use pre-defined reports and lists, such as the Acquisition list or the ISBD list.

Internet Modules

Three options are available as add-ons to the Internet Server software;

• SDI alerting (Selective Dissemination of Information) makes it possible to deliver custom-made services. Your users can register an interest profile, so that the system can automatically inform them about relevant information and new acquisitions.

• Online reservations allows web based users to reserve material from their web browser, and the user can also see what books they currently have on-loan.

All publication types

Adlib Library is flexible enough to deal with all kinds of publications, including digital and multimedia files. The standard catalogue includes templates for several different types of material including: books, audiovisual materials, journals, loose-leafs and articles. Of course, the layout of these templates is fully flexible and can be edited to suit the needs of the library, including the definition of completely new custom templates if required.

Product Functions

The Online Library System provides online real time information about the books available in the Library and the user information. The Product functions are more or less the same as described in the product perspective. The functions of the system include the system providing different type of services based on the type of users [Member/Librarian].

The member is provided with the updated information about the books catalog.

Provisions for the members to borrow the books they want, if all the other required rules hold good.

The member is given a provision to check his account information and change the account information any time in the given valid period.

The members are provided with the books available roster and allowed to choose the books, which they want to use in the coming up days.

The librarian can get the information about the members who have borrowed or returned the books.

The librarian is provided with interfaces to add/delete the books available in the book catalog.

The members when complete the book borrowing or returning process, the due to be paid by the member must be calculated and the information about the member and the due amount is sent to the university billing system.

The system uses the University information security requirements to provide the login facility to the users.

User characteristics

The users of the system are members, librarian of the university and the administrators who maintain the system. The members and the librarian are assumed to have basic knowledge of the computers and Internet browsing. The administrators of the system to have more knowledge of the internals of the system and is able to rectify the small problems that may arise due to disk crashes, power failures and other catastrophes to maintain the system. The proper user interface, user’s manual, online help and the guide to install and maintain the system must be sufficient to educate the users on how to use the system without any problems.

Adlib Challenges

Now looking at the Challenges for the proposed system LibLime Koha, are listed as literature by Khalid, H.M. (2000). And Tang, Jinhong (2001) says.

Local ContextEconomic Stability; Economic challenges include under-funding of universities and their libraries.The rapid growth of student populations has provided enormous challenges to the college

Physical infrastructureLibrary buildings and equipment; buildings show signs of wear and tear they are few necessary or safe wiring for the technology and the number of total computers and printers for student and staff access is inadequate.

Networks and bandwidth

To a large extent, the existence of a University Wide Area Network (WAN) and a Local Area Network (LAN) within the library determines the success of computerization of library services.  It is achieved through surface cabling which exposes the cables to the effects of fire, storm, vandalization etc

Computer Literacy and Library staffing

Many of the staff of college are not computer literate. This is a great setback in computerization. Many of the staff are reluctant to jettison their old mindset which resists change. Many are conservative and traditional, and suffer computer phobia. Research results show that, although the use of electronic information increases job satisfaction, confidence, and the effectiveness of librarians in their work, lack of technical expertise can be very frustrating to the librarians (Edward, et al, 2005).

Power backupDue to the power state of the generator, regular power generation remains a problem in the college. Frequent power outages constitute a serious bottleneck to automation. The cost of running generating plants is prohibitive.

Adlib Hosting

Adlib without ICT worries Let Adlib Information Systems remove all your ICT worries by hosting your complete Adlib system. We provide all the infrastructure and technical support necessary to keep your system running securely without needing a local ICT department.

Advantages of Hosting

• Back-ups automatically made for you • Adlib take care of upgrades, so the college will always be up to date • Professional grade hardware running in a secure datacentre • Access your Adlib system from any web connection

• Always enough storage space

Financial and Commercial benefits of hosting

• No costs for licenses • No locally based ICT personnel needed • No admin/support of complex ICT infrastructure needed • No large investment for hardware/software needed • One annual payment covers everything • Operation covered by a Service Level Agreement (SLA)

Support contract

Once your new system is up and running, you can take out a support contract which provides you with ongoing help and support during office hours. The second aspect of our maintenance contract provides regular upgrades of our software to ensure your system stays up to date into the future

The Actors and corresponding activitiesBilal (2014)explains that in order to describe how a Digital Library Organization is expected to work, it is fundamental to identify the main roles actors can play when interacting with digital library systems and how they are bound to the core concepts of Content, User, Functionality, Quality, Policy and Architecture. 

According to Attilio Colagrossi (2000) an actor  is a class of person, organization, device, or external software component that interacts with your system, basing on that explanation below are the Actors and corresponding activities for the proposed library system

Administrator (Librarian)

The Librarian will be acting as the controller and he will have all the privileges of an administrator. The Librarian activities include:-

Issuing a book to the member. Viewing the different categories of books available in the Library viewing the List of books available in each category Taking the book returned from students Adding books and their information to the database Editing the information of existing books Editing the information of members Renewing of books

Checking the report of the existing books Checking of the report of the issued books Accessing all the accounts of the students Maintains system records

End-user (Student, Teacher, Researcher, Member)

The member / End-user can be either a student or staff of the college who will be accessing the Library online. His activities include:-

viewing the different categories of books available in the Library viewing the list of books available in each category Owning an account in the library. viewing the books issued to him Returning books putting a request for a new book viewing the history of books issued to him previously searching for a particular book

Case Diagram for the system

According to Tbaishat, (2010), a use case diagram summarizes who uses an application or system, and what activities they can do with it. Below is the case diagram for the proposed system.

References:

Breeding, Marshall (2009), “Opening up Library Automation Software”, Computers in Libraries, Vol. 29 no. 2, p2527.

Khalid, H.M. (2000). "Co-operation and networking in library and information systems of advanced countries: a framework for countries with less developed systems'', Library Review, Vol. 49 Nos. 1 and 2, pp. 57-63.

Bilal, D. (2014). Library Automation. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO.

Tang, Jinhong (2001)."The new face of academic libraries in mainland China as they enter the twenty-first century",Library Management, Vol. 22, Nos. 45, pp 181-186.

Luciana Bordoni Attilio Colagrossi , (2000),"Library’s unified information system and advanced library services", Campus-Wide Information Systems, Vol. 17 Iss 3 pp. 94

Bansode, Sadanand Y and Periera, Shamin (2008), “A Survey of Library Automation in CollegeLibraries in Goa State, India”, Library Philosophy & Practice, Vol. 10, no. 2, p17

Dina Tbaishat, (2010) "Using business process modelling to examine academic library activities for periodicals", Library Management, Vol. 31 Iss: 7, pp.480 - 493