Module 14

ILS ADMINISTRATION

Dr. Parthasarathi Mukhopadhyay

MODULE 14: ILS ADMINISTRATION
Contents
14.1 Learning Outcome ........................................................................................................................ 2
14.2 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 2
14.3 An Overview of ILS Administration .............................................................................................. 4
14.4 System Administration: Steps ...................................................................................................... 5
14.5 System Administration: Software Selection ................................................................................. 6
14.6 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 7
14.7 Further Reading List .................................................................................................................... 7

14.1 Learning Outcome

After going through this module you will be able to:

• understand scope and requirements for system administration work in ILS;
• identify steps and processes related to ILS administration;
• apprehend importance of system administration in managing library automation; and
• understand functional requirements for ILS administration.

14.2 Introduction

System administration of ILS is not regular and repetitive in nature but the working of each modules
of ILS activated after configuration of each module as per the requirements of library through system
administration interface. An Integrated Library System (ILS) combines all modules seamlessly with
the help of a back-end RDBMS. In simple words, library automation processes are integrated systems
of a set of interlinked modules responsible for the management of different operational subsystems.
The job of system administration is mainly configuring different modules to suite the needs of a
library setup of any type or size.
 The typical activities of system administration are:
• Privileges control
• Branch management
• Backup and restoration
• System configuration

14.3 An Overview of ILS Administration

System administration involves two sets of works - 1) Setting of initial configuration for each module
and 2) Adjustment of configuration settings from time-to-time to match requirements of library.
Post-installation configuration of an ILS is required to make the default installation of ILS library
specific. Only superuser of ILS can set the administrative parameters. The typical system
administration jobs are listed herewith -

General parameters
Date format: Selection of "metric," "us," or "iso" date format for entire ILS ("us" = mm/dd/yyyy;
"metric" = dd/mm/yyyy; "iso" = yyyy/mm/dd);
Tax parameter: Setting of tax (generally in percentage) for acquisition of documents;
Parameters for Authorities: Involves decisions regarding Authority Display Hierarchy and
Authority separator;
Default character encoding: Selection of character encoding standard for whole ILS, usually
Unicode for multilingual data;
Theme selection: Selection of themes for appearance for both librarian and user interfaces;
Branch management: Option for setting managing parameters for library branches.

Cataloguing parameters
• Allows settings of the following parameters for cataloguing activities – default dispaly format
for retrieved documents, default data format (MARC, UNIMARC etc.), Auto/manual barcode
generation, Filing rules etc.

Circulation parameters
• Allows parameters setting related to maximum outstanding fine amount, maximum
reservations allowed, patron image display, notification for borrower expiry, generation of
gate pass etc.

OPAC parameters
• Supports setting for the following parameters related to OPAC – enhanced content linking
(like Amazon etc), suggestions by users from OPAC, virtual shelf management etc

Library Branches: Options for setting library code, name, address, IP address, domain name etc.

Library Funds: Setting of budget heads for different library materials as per the decision of the
authority;
Currencies: Define the currencies library deal with exchange rates.

Item Types: Setting "categories" into which library items are divided.

Borrower Categories: Setting definition for the types of users of library and how they will be given
privileges.

Issuing Rules: Controls aspects related to the circulation of library materials.

Authorized values for bibliographic format: Options for setting list of authorized values for
different tags and sub-fields of selected bibliographic format.
Bibliographic framework: Scope for customizing of data entry framework by selecting require tags
and sub-fields.

Printers: Setting of printers (or several printers) that is attached to ILS server.

Stop words: Provision to list all of the words library staff wish to ignore by ILS when performing
catalogue searches or building the keyword index.

Z39.50 Servers: Adding Z39.50 servers library want ILS to search

Export/Import: Settings for performing export/import activities by following standards like ISO-
2709 and MARC-XML.

Backup/Restoration: Regular backing up databases and restoration at the time of emergency.

14.4 System Administration: Steps

Library automation is a complex process and should be planned astutely. The job of an ILS
administrator to know the complete set of activities of the library to be automated. These
preparatory works may be divided into following steps:

• Software selection
• Hardware selection
• Site preparation
• General training
• Customization
• Defining procedures for:
1. Bibliographical data entry
2. Administrative data entry
3. Financial data entry
• Commissioning
It is quite obvious that implementation of the above steps in library automation requires
background study or analysis of the library system. It is a precondition to utilize library automation
package for effective results. A library will not be able to take full advantages of automation until
and unless it’s manual functions are perfect and justified. Therefore, the procedures and tasks
followed in different sections should be analyzed in terms of

• Special features of the library system

• Local variations (their validity and usefulness)
• Limitations of the existing system
• Nature and objectives of library
• Total number of collection and nature of collection
• Per year acquisition and procedures followed for acquisition
• Per year subscription of serials and number of back-volumes
• Number of users and their categories
• Per day transactions (issue/return/reservation)
• Availability of multilingual documents
• Need of information services (CAS/SDI etc.)
• Future plan (in terms of networking and consortia, digitization, cloud computing)
• Available manpower (computer literate staff, retraining of staff, recruitment of technical
staff)

This is an illustrative list of factors to be considered during the process of library automation. In
reality a library needs to prepare a comprehensive of list of such factors for effective utilization of
the automated library system.

14.5 System Administration: Software Selection

Evaluation of ILS is an important task for library professional in selecting an ILS for procurement and
for migration from one ILS to another. Evaluation criteria must be framed on the basis of factors like
- i) type and size of the library system; ii) nature of library services; iii) requirement of technical skills
to handle the ILS; iv) use of ILS in neighbouring libraries; v) time needed to perform migration as
well as regular maintenance; vi) compliance of ILS with global standards in the domain of library
services and interoperability; and vii) fund requirements for capital and recurring expenditure
(remember procurement of ILS is not one time capital expenditure, it also involves recurring cost for
annual maintenance and regular updation). ILS evaluation may be discussed in two heads – generic
parameters and specific parameters (for commercial ILS and parameters for open source and
freeware ILS).
14.6 Conclusion

The administrator or super user should control the overall administration of ILS through a highly
secured module for managing access control - for individual user, for each module and for each
function; system security to prevent unauthorized access to databases; standard implementation and
setting of system parameters and keep a log of each transaction, which alters the database. The other
important jobs of system administration are privileges control, branch management, backup and
restoration and System configuration.

14.7 Further Reading List

Antelman, K., Lynema, E., & Pace, A. K. (2006). Toward a twenty-first century library catalog.
Information technology and libraries, 25(3), 128. Retrieved June 11, 2016, from
http://search.proquest.com/openview/4dbc8caf9b5f053528120d5fa1a64523/1?pq-
origsite=gscholar
Bhardwaj, R. K., & Shukla, R. K. (2000). A practical approach to library automation. Library Progress
(International), 20(1), 1-9. Retrieved October 1, 2015, from
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.629.4014&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Boehm, B., & Egyed, A. (1998, April). Software requirements negotiation: some lessons learned. In
Software Engineering, 1998. Proceedings of the 1998 International Conference on (pp. 503-
506). IEEE. Retrieved March 21, 2016, from
http://sunset.usc.edu/csse/TECHRPTS/1998/usccse98-501/usccse98-501.pdf
Borgman, C. (1997). From Acting Locally to Thinking Globally: A Brief History of Library
Automation. The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy, 67(3), 215-249.
Retrieved June 02, 2016 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40039721
Gautam, J. N., Kushwah, S. S., & Singh, R. (2008). Library Automation and Open Source Solutions
Major Shifts & Practices: A Comparative Case Study of Library Automation Systems in India.
Retrieved October 21, 2015, from http://ir.inflibnet.ac.in/ir/bitstream/1944/1247/1/13.pdf
Hopkinson, A. (2006). Introduction to library standards and the players in the field. Digitalia.
Retrieve September 25, 2012 from http://digitalia.sbn.it/upload/documenti/
digitalia20062_HOPKINSON.pdf
Jestin, J., & Parameswari, B. (2005). Challenges for library professionals in India in the new
millennium. Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal), 30. Retrieved October 21, 2015,
from http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1030&context=libphilprac
Kuali Open Library Environment (2013). Retrieved October 1, 2013, from http://www.kuali.org/ole
Lynch, C. A. (1989). Linking library automation systems in the Internet: Functional requirements,
planning, and policy issues. Library Hi Tech, 7(4), 7-18. Retrieved June 11, 2016, from
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/eb047770
Mukhopadhyay, P. (2001) The progress of Library Management Software: an Indian scenario.
Vidyasagar University Journal of Library Science. 6; p.51-69, Retrieved July 01, 2016 from
http://www.academia.edu/download/31127641/lmss2a.pdf
Mukhopadhyay, Parthasarathi. (2005). Introduction to library automation (pp. 05-39); Unit 1. CICTAL
– BLII-003 (Library Automation and Digitization); Ed. Uma Kanjilal; IGNOU, New Delhi: 2005
(ISBN: 81-266-1921-X). Retrieved July 01, 2016 from
 http://egyankosh.ac.in/handle/123456789/5822
Mukhopadhyay, Parthasarathi. (2005). Library automation – software packages (pp. 118-151); Unit
6. MLIS – MLII-104 (ICT Applications – Part I); Ed. S. B. Ghosh; IGNOU, New Delhi: 2005 (ISBN:
81-266-2078-1). Retrieved July 01, 2016 from
http://egyankosh.ac.in/handle/123456789/1377
Mukhopadhyay, Parthasarathi. (2014). Library automation – software packages; Unit 3. BLIS
(Revised) block 1 (Library automation) of course 9 (ICT in libraries); IGNOU, New Delhi: 2014.
Retrieved July 01, 2016 from http://egyankosh.ac.in/handle/123456789/8316
Müller, T. (2011). How to choose a free and open source integrated library system. OCLC Systems &
Services, 27(1), 57-78. Retrieve September 25, 2012 from
http://eprints.rclis.org/15387/1/How%20to%20choose%20an%20open%20source%20ILS.p
df
Open Library Environment. (2009). The Open Library Environment Project Final Report. Retrieved
October 1, 2015, from http://oleproject.org/final-ole-project-report/