[ Circulation ] [ Catalog ]

Like the rest of society, technology and automation are important enhancements to the library media center and are a part of most school libraries to some degree.  Important areas to increase operational efficiency and intellectual access via automation include  automated circulation and an online catalog (i.e., OPAC or online public access catalog) as being automated. Almost all systems have moved to a client / server architecture where there is some processing done at the user terminals and not all the work has to be done on the server where the database and software resides. 

Because of this, library catalogs now require microcomputers, sometimes with a fair amount of processing power.  Trends in automation include:

Academic and large public libraries are now using systems that merge all these functions. The new term for this functionality is "Integrated Online Library Systems".  Many primary and secondary schools are moving in this direction. Multifunctional systems that expand an online catalog into an information portal bring more content components and expand the library services offered. These include:

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Circulation

Today, more libraries buy integrated systems where full MARC records are loaded into the catalog and then used for circulation. The circulation system requires at least two databases to work:

Good circulation systems have numerous features:

Privacy Policies

Several issues must be confronted when developing circulating policies. Guidance comes from the American Library Association policies as well as state statutes.

The ethical responsibilities of librarians, as well as statutes in most states and the District of Columbia, protect the privacy of library users. Confidentiality extends to "information sought or received, and materials consulted, borrowed, acquired" and includes database search records, reference interviews, circulation records, interlibrary loan records, and other personally identifiable uses of library materials, facilities, or services.

Librarians must protect each user's right to privacy with respect to information sought or received, and materials consulted, borrowed, or acquired.

In a recent incident in the Green Bay Schools, Jim Bowen summarized the Wisconsin standards (March 5, 1999).  Chapter 43 of the Wisconsin Statutes restricts access to library media center patron circulation records to only a few people. It states:

Records of any library which is in whole or in part supported by public funds, including the records of a public library system, indicating which of its documents or other materials have been loaned to or used by an identifiable individual may not be disclosed except to person acting within the scope of their duties in the administration of the library or system or persons authorized by the individual to inspect such records, or by order of a court of law (Section 43.30, Wisconsin Statutes)

In the past, DPI Legal Counsel noted that the Wisconsin Attorney General's Office "has issued an opinion that the confidentiality provision of the law covers circulation records of public school libraries as well as other public libraries." (Donald Lamb, Channel DLS, October 1989, p. 6; Robert J. Paul, Law News, p. 17).

Furthermore, "only school library and public library administrators - not school or municipal administrators - and person granted permission by the borrower or ordered by a court of law may inspect a public or school library's circulation records." (Lamb, p. 6)

DPI's Legal Counsel also noted that the laws allow "non-library personnel, whether school or non-school connected such as a teacher or parent, to know how many times a certain volume has been withdrawn from the library over a certain period of time, so long as the individual identification of the person withdrawing the material is not made available to the teacher or the parent." (Paul, p. 17)

As of March 10, 2004, there has been a change in the requirements in Wisconsin based on AB 169, Library Record Disclosure Bill, approved by both houses and expected to be signed into law by the governor. This requires that any library supported by public funds, upon the request of a custodial parent or guardian of a child under the age of 16, to disclose to the custodial parent or guardian library records relating to the use of the library's documents or other materials, resources, or services by the child.

Think about what these mean for circulation practices:  

Circulation Policies

Set up circulation policies by patron type and type of materials. First think about the types of materials that circulate and whether there should be different policies on circulation period, number of items circulating to one person, restricted circulation, fines, etc. Then think about the different types of users you have (teachers, students, staff, parents). Should they have different rights? Some schools even have different numbers of items circulating by grade level. All this needs to be set up ahead of time in your circulation system.

Given the privacy policies, think about how to handle overdue notices as well as whether you will charge fines and how often you want to send out notices. Other issues to consider include:

Serials Control

Serials control is a fancy name for automating the check in of your newspapers and magazines. Many schools have not reached this point yet, but if you have an automated system that integrates this with your other automated functions, you can provide an additional service to your users. With this system, you are able to immediately indicate which issues of a magazine have been received by the library as well as tracking which issues seem to be missing.

Acquisitions

Automated circulation is discussed in the Collection Development class, so will not be covered in detail here. This is a way to track  orders online and perhaps have titles on order reflected in the online catalog. This is a feature new to many schools but commonly found in public library and college library catalogs. 

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Catalog

When evaluating an online catalog, pay close attention to what the user sees and how users interact with the interface. This part of the system is typically used by everyone that uses library resources.  Most programs offer keyword, subject, author, and title searching but other searches are now possible in some systems.  The resource section of the Web has more information about Web-based catalogs.

The Database

A library catalog is really a database of records for each item in the library. In the past it contained largely books, but now many catalogs include AV materials, Internet sites, serials, and even people. In the future, many library catalogs may also be the portal to full-text articles, searchable through the same interface as the catalog records. 

The database consists of MARC records.  I have created an extensive cataloging portfolio, but at this time, it is not electronic -- please refer to it for in-depth information about cataloging.  Briefly stated, each record has fields or tags for specific pieces of information. 

The more complete and consistent the information is in those records, the better searching capabilities will be available for users. This means making sure all MARC records are complete, with  detailed contents and notes, consistent and numerous subject headings, and accurate descriptive cataloging.

Records can be put into the database by cataloging directly into the online catalog system or by importing records created elsewhere (e.g., by a vendor, downloaded from another database such as Alliance Plus or WISCAT).

When available, most people now buy cataloging for each item every time they purchase new materials if possible. Set up a profile with a vendor such as Follett or Brodart or Mackin for cataloging and processing that matches the format used in the catalog and receive disks of MARC records, labels, bar-coding, and other processing to match. These records can then be imported into the automated catalog system and checked for accuracy and consistency with current practices.

At the basic level, every computer, including the library fileserver, must be connected to the network. It may be a local area network (LAN) just within the library, a wide area network around the school or the district, or the Internet itself. This means each computer must have a network card connected to the network wiring.

Things have changed greatly in the last several years. It used to be that library automation systems ran off a host computer (the fileserver) and the computers used for searching were acting as dumb terminals where little if any computing took place. If you are old enough to remember the VT 100 and VT200 emulations run in some of the old systems, you'll know what I mean. They were totally text driving and generally could not even use a mouse. On the positive side, you could have very low level computers around the library for searching.

In the last few years, computing has moved to a client / server architecture with a fileserver that stores the database and does some processing, but much more is done at the individual computers. Sometimes these client computers have a program loaded to run the catalog program; other times they use a web browser to search the online catalog. This does required more powerful hardware for searching, but it also gives the user many more capabilities and a graphical interface (GUI) in the newest systems. Programs like Follett's Unison, Winnebago's Spectrum, and Dynix work in this way.

Web-accessible online catalogs are the newest rage. Examples include:

Many online catalogs are now also incorporating web sites into their databases. Two examples are:

Z39.50

It eliminates the need to learn search syntax of other systems. This allows the use of just one searching interface or client to access not only online catalogs that are Z39.50 compliant but also databases of all types from periodical databases to fulltext articles to digital media databases to the web. If you think about searching 10 different CD-ROMs with ten different ways of searching, then imagine what it would like if you could just say "search these 8 of the 10 and here are the terms I want to find" in just one easy step. The Z39.50 rules make them all talk the same language. Georgia's Gallileo system is an example of a statewide Z39.50 compliant system.

[ Circulation ] [ Catalog ]