A system for college and smaller libraries: LIBRA

Abstract

This article and the following one on LIBRARIAN contain product descriptions of two systems not previously covered in VINE, LIBRA from Emtek Computers and LIBRARIAN from Eurotec. Both are supplied to a range of libraries, but have an existing strong user base in the college library sector, a market which is of increasing interest to a number of suppliers. College library systems requirements range from the small, initially single‐user application not dissimilar to larger school library systems to configurations of 8–10 terminals upwards. Budgets are equally variable, both as regards resources for capital and for recurrent expenditure. The systems catering for colleges range from the more traditional, minicomputer‐based turnkey suppliers who can now offer lower cost versions of their systems, running on the bottom end of their hardware range, to DOS and networked DOS systems. In the past VINE has covered college library systems from G & G (now supplying Lending Library), Dawsons Technology Group (Data Trek Integrated Library System), Information Systems Design (current system LibraryPac, based on the original Circ software) and Biblio Tech (Biblio Lend). Updated information on these systems and on others available in college versions (e.g. CALM) is available from the LITC and through publications such as ‘Library Systems: a buyer's guide’, by Juliet Leeves and the recent ‘Guide to Library Systems for Schools’ compiled by Juliet Leeves and Pat Manson. The two descriptions which follow are, in fact, among the 12 described in the Schools Guide.

Citation

(1988), "A system for college and smaller libraries: LIBRA", VINE, Vol. 18 No. 3, pp. 16-20. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb040394