Automating Media Centers and Small Libraries: A Microcomputer-Based Approach - Softcover

"This text is well-organized, clearly written, and process oriented. Recommended for libraries that serve the library and information science communities, particularly media centers and small libraries."-Education Libraries

With a practical, systematic approach, this guide covers the activities involved in automating media centres and small libraries. It combines simple explanations of the principles of automation with field-tested activities that give readers opportunities for field experience. The author compares various library functions within the automated and unautomated environments. She describes system selection and implementation in detail, identifies the problems that end-users encounter in accessing OPACs, offers innovative solutions to problems to be solved in future OPACs, and recommends activities for hands-on experience. Guidelines for needs assessments and functions analysis, preparation of a Request for Proposal (RFP), barcoding, site preparation, and database maintenance are included. The author also discusses the role of the media specialist, different computer systems and their features, LAN topologies and architectures, various components of a US MARC/MicroLIF Protocol record, OPACs in cyberspace, the role of Z39.50 standard, and more. Intended as a text for graduate students in automation classes and for educators who teach library automation, this book should also serve as a guide for practitioners who are involved in automation projects.