þ4 V ] ] ] ] ] ] d ]{ ]{ ]{ ]{ ]Î @ ]— ]

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DOBIS/LIBIS INTEGRATED LIBRARY SYSTEM IN A UNIVERSITY LIBRARY: The USM Experience

Lim Chee Hong & Rashidah Begum

Universiti Sains Malaysia Library
11800 USM, Pulau Pinang

The Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Library was established as the second University in Malaysia in 1969. It was then given the mandate to provide higher education in the fields of the natural sciences, applied sciences, pharmaceutical sciences, building sciences, humanities, social sciences and education, with medical sciences and engineering introduced later. The University is located on three different campuses - the main campus is in Penang; the School of Medical Sciences is located in Kubang Kerian, 264 km away on the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia while the Engineering Schools are found in Ipoh, some 122 km away south of Penang on the mainland. The University Library system comprises the Main Library and three branch libraries which are located on these three campuses. With the exception of the Main Library and the Media Library at the Centre of Educational Technology and Media on the main campus, the other two branch libraries are located on the sub-campuses. The student population, including higher degree and off-campus programme students is 10,354.

The University Library acquires books, periodicals and media materials to support its teaching and research programmes. Over the twenty years that the University has been established, the Library collection has grown to a size of 509,249 volumes of books and bound periodicals, 5,208 titles of periodical subscriptions and about 155,221 units of media materials.

The University's Computer Centre is equipped with an IBM 4381 (Model L01) and an IBM 4361, each with a 4 megabyte CPU. The library integrated software package, DOBIS/LIBIS, is running on the IBM 4381 computer and operating under OS/VS1 and CICS, and sharing the computer resources with the administrative and financial departments of the University. Plans are afoot for the University to upgrade the IBM 4381 computer to 16 megabyte CPU to cope with the increased workload and much needed power for implementing the multifarious activities of the university.

The Universiti Sains Malaysia Library has been in the forefront in the use of computers in its operations. The initiatives in this direction started way back in 1977 with the establishment of the Automation and Research Division within the Library. It was envisaged then that in order to spearhead the concerted use of computers in the Library, this functional unit formed an important component in the development process. lt was also realised that the Library should work closely with the University Computer Centre to achieve its objectives.

The first attempt in library automation began with a project named PERPUNET1, a cooperative serials database, undertaken on behalf of the National Library of Malaysia and all the six university libraries then. Subsequently, under a pilot funding by UNESCO for the establishment of a computerised cooperative cataloguing system for the country, 1978 saw the birth of the MALMARC system. MALMARC is a batch processing system handled by the USM Library with participation from the National Library as well as all the other university libraries in Malaysia except one. It also included a participating institution from outside the country.

At the outset, it was the firm belief of the USM Library to computerise its entire library operations in time to come and the MALMARC System was seen as a convenient vehicle for the purpose of achieving it. No sooner had the MALMARC System become operational, the Library embarked on the retrospective conversion of the card catalogue. At that time, it was estimated that about 110,000 titles, out of the collection size of approximately 250,000 volumes of book and materials and the media collection, had to be converted into machine-readable form. The first step towards this direction was the purchase of the records via the Selective Record Service, the LOCAS System, of the British Library. In this selection process, the Library of Congress card number and, to a lesser extent, the International Standard Book Number (lSBN) were utilised in obtaining about 29,000 initial records. With this nucleus, the Library proceeded to convert the remaining records on a part-time basis by using the shelf list as the mode for conversion.

Professional and support staff were trained to handle the project and it was enlightening to know that with the commitment and dedication of the staff, the retrospective conversion was carried out successfully, albeit over a span of many years. It was felt that there was indeed no hurry to complete the job quickly as the computer resources in the university at that time were scarce. In the meantime, investigations had begun to determine a suitable software package to computerise the library operations in their entirety in an integrated manner. In consonant with the infrastructure of the university computer system, the selected software should be compatible with the existing hardware available and the choice fell on the DOBIS/LIBIS (D/L) integrated library system.

Upon acquisition of the DOBIS/LlBIS software package, the USM Library set up a main Committee to study the overall implementation of the D/L system. It was the intention of the Library to automate the circulation control module first although in practice the online cataloguing had to be implemented before that. A Subcommittee on Circulation was established subsequently to draw up the guidelines for implementation, flowcharting the procedures, providing details for the code tables, preparing strategy for the bar-coding of the collection, etc. The formation of the main Committee and different Subcommittees has indeed assisted in the smooth implementation of the D/L system.

Training of both the professional and support staff and the preparation of the operation manuals are critical issues to the successful implementation of the system. The operation manuals are invaluable documents and are modified from time to time to update our knowledge as we gain a better understanding of the D/L system. Logs of system and implementation problems are kept for subsequent analysis and problem-solving. As of 4 July 1988, the Library implemented the circulation control system using bar-codes to record both book and borrower information although online cataloguing had been in operation many months earlier. To date, the circulation module has been implemented successfully after all the teething problems have been ironed out.

DOBlS/LIBIS (D/L) is a tightly integrated online library system that supports all major library functions. These include acquisitions, cataloguing, circulation (including inventory control), periodicals control (including check in, claiming and binding), electronic mail, and a user-friendly but powerful online public access catalogue (OPAC) that also makes available circulation and acquisitions information. The searching facility supports Boolean operations and can limit search results by date, type and circulation status. D/L also supports networking. It allows groups of libraries desiring to share a catalogue to be linked at the system level; at a local level, it allows departmental or branch libraries to network. D/L also allows the simultaneous use of multiple dialogue languages. These include one-byte code character languages such as English, German, Spanish and French as well as two-byte code character languages such as Chinese and Arabic.

D/L is MARC-compatible and a standardised interface (DMARC) greatly simplifies input and output of MARC data. D/L has an inverted file structure where the bibliographic records are split up into multiple index files (names, titles, subjects, publishers, classification numbers, etc.) and these files are linked to the primary and secondary bibliographic files by a series of pointers.

In order to implement the online cataloguing module, a substantial amount of customisation was done to meet local needs. The following modifications were made:

• A network consisting of the Main, Medical and Engineering libraries had to be defined. Local orders, invoices, vendors and funds files had to be supported for acquisitions data in each individual library as well as local loans, borrowers and fines files for circulation information. All three libraries share a common catalogue but retain their own holdings in local files.

• The diacritical tables that are used to translate the input characters into the appropriate sort, display and diacritical forms were modified to include groups of words that are to be ignored in filing, and words which are not to be filed in the standard machine order. The former category included filial indicators for Malay names (bin, binti) filial indicators for Indian names (a/l, a/p), conferred Malaysian titles (Datuk, Datin) and other titles (Haji, Hajjah). The latter category, where the display form and sort form also differ, included the eleven variations of the Muslim name Muhammad (M., Md., Mohd., Mohammed, Muhamad, etc.).

• The number of permutation languages was increased from 7 to 8 with the addition of the Malay language. One hundred and ninety two words from the Malay/Indonesian language were chosen as stopwords. Examples of words in the Malay language stopword file are prepositions such as dalam, dari, daripada, and numbers such as satu and kedua.

• A table to add punctuation marks into the display forms for the name, title and subject access points files was created. In the D/L delivered system, punctuation within an entry is recorded in its proper place. However, this differed from the input convention of the MALMARC System where the punctuation is not input at all, but is assigned to a subfield at the output stage by the catalogue output programmes. In this modification, the D/L internal subfield code is not overwritten, and will appear as a blank in the display.

• The subfield codes displayed for the user during entry of the access point file were expanded to conform to the subfield codes used in the MALMARC System. The subfield codes for the Main entry - Corporate name field and the Main entry -Personal name field in MALMARC had to be consolidated since both these fields are part of a single access point file in D/L, i.e. the Names index file.

• The contents of the Notes field were modified to include school codes while the Form of contents code table in the leader field was expanded to include codes for theses submitted to the University, atlases, and student training reports. The defaults USM for cataloguing source and eng for language code were also defined for the leader fields.

As mentioned above, the Universiti Sains Malaysia Library had the advantage of having the entire library card catalogue in machine-readable form by the end of 1987. D/L has provision for batch input of existing bibliographic records from magnetic tape through its interface facility, DMARC (DOBIS-MARC). The USM Library took advantage of this facility to load its existing catalogue of monographs into the system. A programme for converting the Library of Congress (LC) MARC format to the DMARC format is supplied in the contributors' library of the D/L package. However, this programme, written by staff of the University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia, was modified by us to convert data from the MALMARC to the DMARC format.

DMARC input which requires online CICS/VS operation was used to load in 997 unique bibliographical records represented by l,505 copies for a pilot bar-coding project The first batch of DMARC records, particularly with regard to the field offset and field length, was checked very carefully to ensure that the conversion programme worked properly. Bar-code labels (using code 39 symbology) were printed in-house using a Hewlett Packard LaserJet printer. At the same time, the bar-coding project proceeded without any major problems. The reorganisation utility in D/L was then used to load in the rest of the monographic and other records. At the end of the loading exercise which was completed in September 1987, the D/L production database consisted of 181,597 unique bibliographic records. The sizes of the various access point files at this stage were as follows:

A pre-requisite for circulation in D/L is that each copy of a book should have a bar-code label. This label not only identifies the document to the circulation programmes, but also specifies certain types of information and relationship between the bibliographic and copy records, and entries in the holdings and shelf-list files. The Universiti Sains Malaysia Library made several inquiries both locally and overseas to various suppliers concerning the supply of bar-code labels for the 312,293 copy records that existed in the production database. A local supplier in Kuala Lumpur who was able to produce labels of the desired quality and in an arrangement specified by us was given the order to supply the bar-code labels. The labels produced did not have problems of spots, voids and fade and ink pick-off, and this ensured maximum first read rates and durability.

The call number of each D/L copy record was output to OS using the DMARC facility. The data was then transferred to the VM operating system where in-house programmes were used to sort the call numbers in shelf-order. The call number, accession number and D/L copy number were downloaded to the hard disk of an IBM PC/AT microcomputer, copied to 17 high-density diskettes (each containing about 20,000 bar- code numbers) and sent to Kuala Lumpur for printing. The bar-coding of the collection was carried out by a team of 20 school leavers and completed within 6 weeks.

Online cataloguing commenced in February 1988. The online cataloguing is supplemented by the batch input of cataloguing data selected from the CD-ROM database Bibliofile into the D/L database. A conversion programme has been written to convert the records from the Bibliofile format to the MALMARC format and then to the DMARC format for input into the production database using the online programmes. Approximately 16,000 records have been added to the database via this route since online cataloguing began and represents about 50-60% of the cataloguing volume. Bar-code labels are produced in-house using the 92286W 3-of-9 font cartridge on an HP LaserJet Series II printer. The spine labels are printed on the same printer using the Letter Gothic typeface, point size 14.

As in cataloguing, a certain amount of modifications were made before online circulation was launched in July 1988. For example,

the contents of the borrower and material type code tables were defined. There are eleven categories of borrowers (academic, student, public, postgraduate, etc.) and ten material types (open-shelf, red-spot, reference, etc.) defined for each of the six locations in the library collection. The Library specific code tables for the borrower were defined in terms of Schools/Departments, year of study, and major and minor courses. It was decided that the number field of the borrower record be used to indicate the expiry date of a borrower's membership. Also the map used to display the user record was translated to the Malay language.

The personnel and student records at Universiti Sains Malaysia were all in machine-readable form. The name, address (home and term), School/Department, post, year of study, field of study and identity card number data were loaded into the D/L system using the unloaded format. 7,632 student records and 3,170 personnel records were added to the borrower file of all three libraries in May 1988. For borrowers who did not belong to either category, administrative procedures, using the online function to enter the borrower data, were worked out and implemented. A programme to update the student records (year of study and term address) at the beginning of each term has also been written. In processing the borrower records, the borrower cards are printed and laminated in-house.

The send overdues function in D/L is run every morning to identify and print overdues, recall and reservation notices. Lists of blacklisted borrowers are also produced from time to time, and at the beginning of every month, a list of borrowers whose membership expires the forthcoming month is produced. In addition, an analysis of loan statistics by language and class number order, is produced monthly. A file content search programme produces a report on the size of the borrower database by borrower type as required. A report on the total amount of daily fines collected as well as the cumulated figure is produced for the financial control of the fines collected on a daily and monthly basis.

One of the basic principles of D/L is the sharing of resources. The D/L network structure, therefore, serves not only library purposes but also data processing requirements since it allows both the Computer Centre and the Library to function concurrently by sharing one system. In the Universiti Sains Malaysia Library D/L network, the branch libraries of the Medical and Engineering Schools which are separate administrative units have been identified as separate local libraries. The Engineering Library in Ipoh is linked to the mainframe via a leased line. Cataloguing is done online and computerised circulation control will be launched before the end of the year when it moves to its new premises in the town of Sri Iskdar, some 35 km west of Ipoh. However, the electronic mail facility in D/L is heavily used for inter-library loan requests and other communication between the main and branch campuses.

As the computer resources within the University become available in time to come, the Library has plans to allow the online public access catalogue (OPAC) to be used for inquiry from the Schools and Departments. The cabling for linking the various Schools and Departments to the mainframe computers has already been done and this would certainly facilitate access to the library collection more readily and therefore increase the use of the library materials.

The implementation of the DOBIS/LIBIS system has inevitably brought about a visible change in the library operations. Procedures had to be changed to reflect the different requirements of a computerised environment. As the Library has been involved in library automation for a long time, the staff did not show any resistance to change and accepted the automated circulation system willingly; nor was there any expression of fear of losing jobs. Indeed, within the period of one year, the Library was able to deploy three clerical staff to the other departments of the University. The academic community and the students did not make any objections to the computerised situation as they were fully aware that the implementation would improve the efficiency of the Library in providing materials for their needs.

As the implementation of the DOBIS/LIBIS system has been envisaged to be conducted in stages due to the inadequate resources currently available, a pilot project for the acquisition process, begun in March 1989, is being phased-in and is expected to be completed by the middle of this year.

DOBIS/LIBIS is a very sophisticated software. The programming is very complex and a library intending to install D/L will require system staff with high level PL/l knowledge and CICS programming experience. Universiti Sains Malaysia has been very fortunate to have library and system staff who are well versed in library automation skills. Although IBM system support has been somewhat inadequate, our experiences in library computerisation throughout the past decade has proved the fact that a library in a developing country, with the proper staff, can implement the DOBIS/LIBIS system successfully and effectively.