According to the father of Library Science, Dr. S.R. Rangnathan, a library is more like a growing organism and will need to be simplified and organised at different times. According to him, people who enter the library must be able to find a book of their liking without having to take assistance from any outside source. Here's where good library software comes into play.
Let's take a look at all that you'll need to look out for in good library software:
Library Images
Management of Library Information
The most important thing that a library needs to have is that it should be capable of saving precious reading time by guiding the reader to a book he wants to read. The information doesn't need to be limited to books.
Good library management software should be capable of including and organising all kinds of reading material such as books, journals, articles, dissertation/thesis, newspaper, maps, charts, project reports, CDs, DVDs, e-journals, audio cassettes, video cassettes, scanned images, audio files, video files, floppies and many other types of reading material.
Let's take a look at some must-have features of library management software, features without which a modern library won't be able to function to the best of its potential.
Bar Code Enabled
A library cannot be said to be fully automated if it does not make use of software that can read bar codes. Bar-code reading is a good way to keep track of all books coming in and going out of the library. There is a number of library information software available in the market but only a few of them carry this feature. Make sure that you get the one that does!
Multimedia Management
Modern libraries are very different from their conventional counterparts. Reading material on paper aren't the only resources they have. Library software that includes management applications for other reading resources and educational material in the form of CDs, DVDs, audio and video cassettes should be preferred.
Printing Applications are a Must
What good is Library software that cannot print member I-cards and cannot keep track of their borrowing history? Choose the one that is capable of performing both these things.
Article Indexing
We found this indigenous feature in only few selected library management software, few of the best ones of course! Please look at some of the software available online for a complete understanding of this feature.
Technical Support
What to do if your software runs into technical faults and troubles. The option of online technical support is a must. Get a software that has 24/7 online technical support.
One thing to take care of is to make sure that your software meets all desired technical standards such as AACR2, MARC21, MARXML, Z3950, NCIP 2.0 and Unicode.
Compatibility Matters
The software needs to be compatible with other Software especially Microsoft office, DBMS software like SQL (Structured Query Language) etc.
With the help of this information, we hope you'll be able to make an informed decision on buying good library management software.
Things to Look Out For in Good Library Software
For any help on library software, check out the info available online; these will help you learn to find the library management software!
