The City University of New York (CUNY) ILS is an online integrated library system that bibliographically links the collection of the 20 libraries of the university. The primary aim of ILS is to enable the user to access the holdings of any participating library. It is designed to provide automated support to all CUNY library operations and functions through a system maintained centrally in one location.

This paper will first give a brief description of the institutional set-up and then will discuss the development of CUNY ILS. It will also describe the software package (NOTIS) that was utilized including the modules (library operations) and status of its implementation.

Background

The City University of New York is the third largest in the country consisting of 9 senior colleges, 7 community colleges, 1 technical college, a graduate center, an affiliated medical school, and a law school. They are located in separate campuses in the five boroughs of the city.

At present, 3 million of the university's combined collections of more than 5 million volumes are represented in the CUNY Union Catalog. Any student, faculty, or staff of the city university may borrow from any member library. The enrollment as of 1989 was over 194,000 (Weiss, 1989).

Over the years, the CUNY libraries participated in resource sharing and automation pro-grams. Since most of the cataloging records are in machine readable form because of participation to OCLC, the production of the CUNY Union Catalog on microfiche in 1982 became a reality. Bibliographic description and summary holdings for current and retrospective serials are accessible through the CUNY-OCLC Union List of Serials.

One significant result of the automation efforts is the adoption of Northwestern Online Total Integrated System (NOTIS), a software package that ties together the different library operations into one system. These operations are based upon a common database and set of commands and makes it possible to move from one function to another without having to log of and log back on the system. In 1987, the City University of New York Integrated Library System (ILS) was implemented with the installation of NOTIS at the University Computer Center located at 57th Street.

2. THE UNIVERSITY COMPUTER CENTER

Like other institutions of higher education, CUNY has established in 1973 a University Computer Center to serve the university-wide instructional, research, and administrative computing needs. It has several systems which run on different equipment (hardware) and of varying degrees of power and use.

2.1. Hardware. The main hardware is an IB M mainframe which is accessible from local campuses over high quality TI kb dedicated phone lines directly connected between the libraries and the center. It includes two processing units:

• 1 IBM 3090 Model 400 with one vector processor

• 1 IBM 3081 KX and associated peripheral devices for storage, communication and input/output.

2.2. Software. The system software includes:

• Multiple Virtual Storage/System product with Job Entry subsystem 3 (MVS/SP/JES3) for batch computing via remote Job entry stations.

• WYLBUR, an inter-active text editor with Job submission and retrieval capabilities running under MVS. VM/SP HOP Virtual Machine/System Product High Performance Option) with CMS (Conversational Monitor System) for interactive computing and text editing (Dono, 1988).

2.3. Adoption of NOTIS. In 1986, the chief librarians of CUNY decided to adopt the Northwestern Online Total Integrated System. NOTIS runs on an IBM mainframe and thus can be supported by the University Computer Center without having to Purchase central processors. It was the only IBM-based integrated library system that was implemented successfully at other sites of comparable size and complexity in the country at that time. Another important factor for the selection is the commitment of NOTIS development staff to national standards and to open system architecture which will permit direct linking to other computers in the future (Ra, 1987, p. 2).

Under the terms of agreement of February 1987, the software, upgrades and maintenance of the system will be provided by NOTIS. In addition, a program for the creation of item records from the two colleges using other systems (i.e., CLSI and GEAC) will be supplied (Ra, 1987, p.1).

3. NOTIS SYSTEM STRUCTURE AND DATABASE CREATION

3.1. NOTIS system. This section briefly describes the NOTIS system structure. In NOTIS, a database is known as "institution group". The group has a single set of indexes and holds certain files in common, among them an authority file. An institution group contains one or more pro-cessing units. The processing unit corresponds to one college library's processing section and is the level at which catalog maintenance and acquisition occur.

In other words, CUNY is the institution group. Each participating library acquires its own materials, catalogs them, and maintains their own bibliographic records. Bibliographic and holdings record are required by NOTIS (Henjum, 1989). NOTIS links all these records into one database resulting in a union catalog of the holdings of the university.

3.2. Single database. A single database containing all records from the various units of the university provides an online public access catalog. It consists of bibliographic records and library user records. The bibliographic records (i.e., cataloging information for books, serials, and other materials held by CUNY libraries) are on magnetic tapes from which the CUNY Union Catalog on fiche is currently produced. In addition, each record includes the location of the material and circu-lation status. The user records are constructed from CUNY student registration and personnel tapes.

4. NOTIS MODULES AND FUNCTIONS

Some features of NOTIS as they are implemented at CUNY libraries are briefly noted in the following paragraphs:

• OPAC. At present, more than 3 million records of seven libraries are already in the data-base. The online public access catalog (OPAC) is called CUNY+Plus. A user can access this catalog through any of the 209 computer terminals located in the 7 libraries. The other libraries who are not yet hooked up to NOTIS can also access this catalog because each one has at least one computer terminal connected to CUNY+PLUS. The OPAC can be searched by author, title, subject as well as keywords in context.

• Circulation. The circulation module provides item records linked to bibliographic and copy holdings records. This record gives the material identification number or bar code number and the latest circulation status. When a book is charged out, the user's identification number and the book's bar code number are linked together creating a circulation record.

Also under implementation are the reserve book number module, bill and fines module.

• Bibliographic maintenance. Each library continues cataloging its materials through OCLC. Once the cataloging record for an item in hand is found in the OCLC database, it is downloaded to NOTIS through an interface, Generic Transfer and Overlay (GTO) making the record immediately searchable through the ILS online catalog.*

• Serials Control. CUNY libraries have created Local Data Record (LDR) with summary holdings for their serials. The LDR is the basis of the CUNY-OCLC Union List of Serials. With the implementation of the Serials module, the process of claiming and check in are done online as they are received at each library.

A working committee of Serials Librarians has developed standards for input of serial hold-ings into CUNY+PLUS to insure uniformity. At the same time, this will serve as guidelines for implementing the new MARC format for Serials Holdings (MFHL).

5. PROBLEMS

• Lack of Uniformity in Headings. One of the problems encountered in merging the records of the 18 libraries is the lack of uniformity in the assignment of subject headings to the same material perhaps there is a need to clean up the records in the database. For instance, a record entered under a subject term held by one CUNY library may be found under a different heading in an other library. Consequently the user has difficulty in doing a subject search.

To improve subject searching the complete LC subject headings have been loaded in the database so that it can be used for verification of terms. The production of additional aids in searching is being done. John Jay in particular, issues supplementary lists of subject headings in selected areas (e.g., Public administration, Alcoholism, etc.)

• Location Symbols Confuse User. Another problem with the ILS online catalog is that the user is confused with the location of the material. That is, the bibliographic record in the database gives all the location symbols of holding libraries. As a result, some users assume that the record on the computer screen is for an item in their library. Perhaps, this can be remedied when the local catalog (i. e., catalog of a particular library) is implemented.

A possible improvement is the inclusion of holdings statement such as found in the OCLC record. For instance, if a specific book is available in my library (Hostos Community College, OCLC symbol:ZHC), the record on the screen will flash "ZHC" and No holdings in "ZHC" if not available.

6. STATUS OF IMPLEMENTATION

Libraries which have converted their bibliographic records into machine readable forms were the first to install NOTIS. At present, 7 libraries have operational modules in place (i.e., online public access catalog, circulation, bibliographic maintenance, and serials control).

The other libraries are in varying stages of implementation. The process of implementation is rather slow for some because they are still doing the retrospective conversion of their records. In some cases, the Physical facilities are inadequate or not ready. For instance, the library building is

under construction or renovation, telephone cables have not been installed, or extensive rewiring has to be done.

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*Generic Transfer and Overlay (GTO), a method of interfacing which permits NOTIS user to download authority and bibliographic records online from OCLC, RLIN, or any CD-ROM MARC database with a record export capability.

All the CUNY libraries are expected to be integrated by 1992. When all the libraries have Joined the ILS, the Union Catalog on fiche will serve as backup. Anticipated benefits of the system include speed and ease of locating materials, enhanced resource sharing, and closer cooperation among libraries and between the libraries and the computer center.

A small library like Hostos Community College may not be able to automate its operations on its own because of the expense and expertise involved. However, a group or university-wide effort opens all libraries, large and small, to the possibilities of using the advances in information technology.
 
 

REFERENCES

"CUNY and NOTIS Agreement," City University of New York integrated Library System News p. 1 (March 5,1987).

Dono, John E., "You want to use a computer at CUNY," CUNY/ University Computer Center Communications 14: 55, 68 (September-October 1988) .

Henjum, E., "The Florida Center for Library Collection: the system," Advances in Library Automation and Networking 3: 225-49 (1989).

Ra, Marsha. The CUNY Integrated System: An Overview. 1987. p. 2.

Weiss, Samuel, "CUNY tries for revival while it faces austerity, City University's 1989 enrollment [as inset]" The New York Times p. L54, (December 10, 1989)

OTHER REFERENCES

"The libraries of the City University" in The City University of New York 1988 Master Plan. p. 219-222.

Meyer, James, "NOTIS: The system and its features," Library Hi-Tech 3: 81-90 (1985).

"NOTIS Implementation at the Community Colleges," (March 15, 1988 Memorandum to CUNY Community College chief librarians) 8 p.

NOTIS Solutions expanding your library's resources. NOTIS Systems Inc., 1990. 41 p.