Critical Analysis of Different Library Systems

2013-05-16T11:48:00.001-07:00

Modelling users for system development in the Cultural Heritage Context.

A lecture was given by Pierluigi Feliciati from the University of Macerata, Italy.

The lecture covered various important aspects:

One has to focus on users (both user profiles and user types)
One has to gather information about users through emails, online surveys, interviews, focus groups, usability testing and observation sessions
Users types can be classified by geographical/demographical/webliographic or behavioural variables
Web systems can propose content selections corresponding to certain user types and roles
Before projecting and implementing a system one has to use cases and scenarios
When drawing use case one has to consider: - the actor, the interaction and the goal
Use scenarios - one has to keep in mind that scenarios are not predictions, butrather attempts to reflect on the way in which a system is used in the context of daily activity
To identify user types, it's possible to use the technique of personas since it gives a personal human face, helps the developing team to share understanding of the real users and self referential design
One can also use user stories - written by users as list of functionalities that he system have to do for them.

Many ways to look at a book!

2013-05-14T00:53:00.001-07:00

This lecture was delivered by Ms Christine Urquhart from Aberystwyth University. It had to do mostly with library systems and what library services are for different types of users.

Library systems have different types of users each with their own particular needs and expectations. These include undergraduate and postgraduate students, academic staff and researchers. For example undergraduate students want more resources and mobile devices and the library provides them with resources and also with study space. Researchers expect to have e-journals and specialist resources for their research. In fact they do depository negotiations for specialised material to be made available at the library. Thus it is important for libraries to focus clearly on every problem and issue to get a “rich picture” and then solve problems from there.

It is also necessary for libraries to do a business process analysis by seeing how different processes fit together and make sure not to leave anything important out. Librarians must also as themselves if the roles and activities are sufficient for the working of the library system.

To understand library systems better, librarians need also to understand what is so interesting about the book. This includes understanding how it can be used, its different versions if any and what type of relationships exist. We must have conceptual views such as who created the work, who produced the manifestation and who is the owner of the book. Is the book named Pride and Prejudice written by Jane Austen produced for schools or the edition published by the publisher, or the book found in my library at home?

Resource Description Framework (RDF) was also mentioned. Classification thinking here is much more than Dewey!

Maltese Libraries – What Future?

2013-05-11T00:21:00.001-07:00

A one-day MaLIA Conference held at the Cavalieri Hotel on 10^th May 2013

The aim of this conference was to bring together all people that have worked or are still working in libraries. The key players in the local library scene are library managers and leaders, library staff and patrons.

Different strategies have been pointed out throughout this conference through presentations from different types of libraries, open discussions and sharing of ideas. In the first part of the conference library leaders presented the progress that have occurred in the library under their responsibility, challenges met and also future plans to keep it always up-to-date to continue meeting the changing needs of its users. The second part of the conference gave the opportunity to foreign speakers to give their viewpoints regarding their objective views on the local library scene and also offer some ideas about a move forward. Finally there was also a presentation by head of MEUSAC followed by direct participation of the audience. Different topics were assigned to each group which represented a particular sector of library theory and practice which had to do with some type of library. Afterwards each group reported their conclusions to the main assembly. The conference then was ended with a message from MALIA’s Chairperson.

Mr Evarist Bartolo, Minister for Education and Employment, mentioned the importance of libraries in society. They are necessary for pushing children to succeed and for our national culture amongst other things. Thus libraries need to be helped face the met challenges and to find new ways to cope.

More information and details of this conferemce will be uploaded soon.

Maria Chircop

Library Assistant University of Malta Library

RDA Lecture by Ms Aspa Togia

2013-05-08T23:37:00.000-07:00

This week we had a visiting lecturer from the Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki in Greece. She presented a series of two sessions on Resource Description and Access (RDA).

RDA stands for Resource Description and Access. It is the new cataloging standard, replacing AACR2. RDA is based on the FRBR (functional requirements for bibliographic records) and FRAD (functional requirements for authority data) concept models. FRBR and FRAD are models which are internationally recognized as viable and valuable ways to conceptually structure and retrieve information.
In these sessions the lecturer explained that in many regards the rules have remained substantially the same, and an AACR2 record may not look that different than an RDA record. In some cases the rules have changed significantly, namley:

•    AACR2 has a list of abbreviations that were used throughout the record. In RDA there are very, very few abbreviations used and most terms are spelled out.

•    There is an emphasis in RDA to type what you see and to make our notes more explicative to the general public.

•    In AACR2 a cataloger would list all the authors only if there were 3 or less. In RDA the cataloger has the option to list all the authors on the title page.

•    There will also be changes to headings. In RDA the cataloger is allowed to qualify a name by a profession or occupation.

The Library of Congress and the British Library began to use the RDA with effect from 1st April 2013.
Information gathered from these sessions and also retrieved from http://librerossalalm.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/what-is-rda-and-how-will-it-impact-cataloging/

RSS Feeds Included in the Blog

2013-04-29T08:29:00.001-07:00

In the blog, an RSS Feed feature was also created. This is an option targeted for interested users wishing to subscribe to the blog's News Updates.

This blog is also subscribed to two other RSS Feeds, which are the MaLIA and Library of Congress, which from their part they are related to libraries' information services.

Information regarding the 2 RSS Feeds

MaLIA
The Malta Library and Information Association (MaLIA), is an organization with the aim of creating a meeting ground for people engaged or interested in the library and information profession in Malta.
For more information one can access their website at http://www.malia-malta.org/

Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, the de facto national library of the United States of America, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States.
For more information one can access their website at http://www.loc.gov/index.html

Planning a New System at the University of Malta Library

2013-03-25T02:00:00.002-07:00

Planning is important when implementing a new system. The planning phase should be connected with the development of the system and with the library’s vision. If done properly planning would prevent time and effort from being wasted, better education and awareness of what is going on and better manipulation of the whole system. Improvements that should have been applied in the planning period where realized from lessons learnt at the end.

1.    Staff experienced a huge amount of pressure when starting to get used to the new application software. The setting up of new modules in the completely new system was a tough task. It would have been better to ask the supplier to provide more pre-configuration and not only advice and flexibility.

2.    A huge amount of time and effort were spent on data conversion. More time needed to be spent planning on what data needed to be converted or created again. It would have been easier to recreate some data rather than converting it to the new system. The Adlib data was very complicated and required a lot of work to convert it to Aleph.

3.    More training and education with real life examples before implementing the system would have helped the staff understand better the move from one system to another. Although staff and users saw the advantages of the new system they were also conscious about things that Aleph performed less well.

4.    ExLibris offered help and support over the internet. However it would have been much better if on-site support was available at the moment of actually starting using the system, and sometime before and after.

5.    The fact that there was a lot of time available led to a relaxed manner when working on the project. A lot of time was taken for granted and this resulted in a load of accumulated work in the last few weeks. It would have been better if the staff worked hard as if there was no time frame. This would have prevented a lot of hassle at the end.

6.    The library should have uploaded more notices and created awareness of the importance of attending workshops. More hands-on experience should have been given rather than only theoretical information.

Tender Process at the National Library of Malta

2013-03-20T00:46:00.000-07:00

The National Library of Malta

“… to acquire, catalogue and preserve manuscripts, books, journals, periodicals and other online and electronic material issued in Malta…”

Tenders are open invitations to sell or buy a product, service or contract. These are generally published as legal notices in the Government Gazette as was the tender for The Implementation, testing and training of a Digital Assets Management Software System of the National Library of Malta (NLM.)

Tender document regarding management software system

The open tender of the NLM required certain administrative tasks which are preparation, adjudication and implementation. In the preparation phase the proper tender period, advertising date, closing date, time and location are chosen. Studies such as on the available budget, human resources, type of software to be used are carried out. The written document must be in line with the public procurement regulations which regularly amended.

The adjudication phase follows where a board is appointed to list and record tenders, apply selection criteria, evaluates and recommends the report.

The last stage is the implementation phase where evaluation of the tender is submitted and approved by the Department of Contracts (since amount of tender was more than €120,000.) Testing, evaluation, training of staff and deployment are also done.

How the system must work

Technical aspects include these six standards:

i. Metadata: using a Dublin Core

ii. Input : excel and xml files

iii. Export : required export facility to be used

iv. Output : what is shown on screen and printing options

v. Reporting : what type of records have been exported or number of files created

vi. Audit trail : for accountability

Presentation held by Mr Mamo (National Librarian & CEO) and Mrs Sciberras (Deputy Librarian, National Library)

Digitization at the Archdioses of Malta

2013-03-05T23:20:00.000-08:00

Digitization is perhaps the post prevalent issue faced by contemporary archivists. While transferring items to digital formats can result in enormous benefits for both users and institutions, it also creates several challenges.

The most important benefit is the increased access to archives at the researchers' disposal. Researchers are given searching and browsing facilities that enable them to find required information with greater speed and accuracy. In fact most researchers of the Archbishop's Curia's website are from France, UK, Malta, Australia, Bahrain and Spain. The website has a high usage rate ad reached 167,000 hits. An average of 12.38 minutes is spent by each user. Pages of manuscripts can be clearly seen through a 600dpi PDF and can be downloaded for a fee of 50c per page.

Image taken from http://archives.maltadiocese.org/

The most difficult challenge is that the process is time-consuming and the creation and maintenance of digital libraries is very expensive. When images are clear, scanning can be done automatically. However when images are a bit blurred, the process has to be regulated manually. Planning also takes a significant amount of time, eg. the planning phase at the Curia took 15 months while the project itself was carried out in 10 months.

Money is needed for production, for material access and for preservation of digital information. To make the situation more difficult, since the Curia is a non-profit organization, budget issues have to be handled very carefully.

Kurja Post

2013-03-03T23:37:00.003-08:00

Girls, when are we going to meet to start the Kurja thingy?

1st lecture on Blogging

2013-02-21T07:08:00.001-08:00

Here we are!

On our first lecture on how to learn to use the Blogger, make posts etc. etc.!
Fingers crossed!!