Citation
Bay, M.T. (2001), "Around the Globe: Case Studies in Library Automation", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 18 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2001.23918eaf.004
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2001, MCB UP Limited
Around the Globe: Case Studies in Library Automation
University of Valencia
Maria Carmen Cárcel Más
[This case study was submitted in response to our call for examples of development in library automation and comes to us from Spain. A student of Information Science at the University of Valencia, Maria Carmen Cárcel Más describes the background and status of library automation at that institution. We hope that other readers will share activities and experiences at their libraries. Please send submissions to any of the LHTN editors.]
Introduction
The Universitat de València is one of the oldest universities in Europe. In fact, the University Regulations were passed by the municipal magistrates of València on April 30, 1499. In 1501, Pope Alejandro VI signed the approval bill and one year later Fernando II, "El Católico", promulgated the royal mandatory sanction. Within its 500 years of history, the Universitat de València (UV) has progressively enlarged the curriculum of study. Currently, the UV offers a wide range of disciplines. The University places at the forefront of its objectives the high quality of its teaching and research. Moreover, the UV is committed to keeping and establishing links with universities all over the world, either through bilateral agreements or by taking part in international programmes and networks. Thanks to international exchanges, students from different nationalities and cultures live together at the Universitat de València.
The university census is about 60,000 students, with more than 3,000 lecturers and 1,500 people working as administrative staff. Collections are dispersed, so it is hard to tell the exact size of them.
There are four campuses:
- 1.
The Burjassot Campus, which houses the Colleges of Biology, Pharmacy, Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics.
- 2.
The Blasco Ibáñez Campus, with the Colleges of Medicine and Dentistry, Philosophy and Edu-cation, Psychology, Geography and History, Languages, Physiotherapy, Nursing, and the School of Elementary Studies.
- 3.
The third campus, Tarongers, houses the Faculty of Law, Economics and Business and the Schools of Management Studies, Social Work and Work Relations. Among the largest collections, the library contains 300,000 volumes and 1,133 reading spaces.
- 4.
The Educational Institute of Cheste, situated outside València, houses the School of Physical Education.
The Universitat de València has reorganized its degrees to reflect changing social needs, the existence of other universities in the Comunidad Valènciana, and the educational resources available. At present, the studies offered are either one-cycle qualifications (diplomas) or two-cycle qualifications (degrees) (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Geographical
Distribution
Figure 2. Schools
and Faculties
Until the LRU (Ley Organica 11/1983, de 25 de Agosto, de Reforma Universitaria) and the Rules of the University were approved in 1985, the university library consisted of scattered libraries in faculties, schools and departments (see Figure 2). In 1985 all the University libraries changed their name to SIB (Servicio de Informacion Bibliografica Bibliographic Information Service). This describes the functional duty of bringing together all bibliography, documentary and audiovisual resources and property of the University of València. The SIB consists of 17 libraries characterized as:
- •
12 libraries of faculty;
- •
four libraries of University School;
- •
one library of the College University of Castellón.
In addition there are four General Library units that do not belong to academic centers:
- 1.
General and Historical Library contains local history documents, reference tools; maps; incunabula; theatre; periodicals; cameo binding, currencies and medals; special collections of documents printed from the sixteenth century; placards; microforms; scores; leaflets; intaglios;
- 2.
University Archive;
- 3.
Unit of Information and Documentation administers access and interlibrary loan services;
- 4.
Unit of Library Coordination.
Bibliographic information service at the UV is in charge of the following functions:
- •
Catalogue.
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Circulation and interlibrary lending and borrowing.
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Database maintenance supporting reference works, multiple subject heading access and cross-disciplinary references, humanities, sport, basic and health sciences, social and legal studies, economics, other access points to resources.
Library Catalogue
MVS, an IBM machine, runs the Dobis/Libis application on the IBM 309 operating system. Programming is done in PL1 and other languages. The visualization is achieved through the variation of the standard MARC called DMARC.
Input into the catalogue can be accessed in two ways:
- 1.
Level DOBIS is used by the cataloguer to update and input new files.
- 2.
Level LIBIS the user tool; users can, through the OPAC, access the bibliographic references.
Different ways to access the OPAC:
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Z39.50 client.
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Telnet 3270 for remote access via Navigator, if it supports Java.
- •
IPAC Client will soon be available.
Interlibrary Loan The transfer of items within interlibrary loan was done with Ariel but, as the display with .tif format was a problem for the users, it was decided to distribute the documents using Prospero, a program by Adobe Acrobat, with .pdf format.
The process of submission of ILL is done by checking the OPAC for a bibliographical reference. Then the user communicates with the ILL section in one of several ways: in person, by mail, via fax or e-mail, or through electronic form.
All users must have a deposit account for all interlibrary loan transactions. Once the item has been obtained, the user will be given a PIN to access the server that contains the document with a URL http://sod.sib.uv.es/cgi-bin/patron.htm, and the document will rest on the server for 15 days and can be viewed and read in pdf using Adobe Acrobat. Print copies can be sent to the users by post or fax. Interlibrary Loan is a fee-based service.
Databases
UV subscribes to some SilverPlatter databases which uses WebSpirs 4.0. Designed to work with PCs through Windows, remote access is available via modem to the UV Libraries.
Electronic Reference Library (ERL) SilverPlatter allows for access via a wide area network and can access databases in CD-ROM, off the hard disk and professional information nets, with any operating system: DOS, MAC, Windows, UNIX. ERL handles the following functions, so that users can access via the network:
- •
Management of databases.
- •
Channels the request for information.
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Checks the privacy of the users.
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Generates statistics of usage.
The Client ERL program is a way for the user to choose the most appropriate retrieval program from the following list:
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PC-SPIRS: for the MS-DOS operating system.
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WinSPIRS: for the Windows environment.
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MacSPIRS: for Macintosh.
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UNIX-SPIRS: for Unix.
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WebSPIRS: for access with a World Wide Web interface.
ERL has been implemented at two levels:
- 1.
On the University of València General Studies server, which is a Sun Ultra 10 with the Solaris 2.6 operating system. This server has 384Mb of RAM, and dedicates 50Gb to store the databases. Currently it uses the version 4.06 of ERL for the Solaris operating system.
- 2.
Version 4.1 WebSPIRS allows users to consult databases through a system of Web pages, therefore, it is enough having a Web navigator to access without needing to install an additional program.
Winframe
Winframe is application server software designed for Windows NT 3.51 with functions added that make it ideal to operate with programs designed for Windows within a heterogeneous environment. It also incorporates the ICA (Independent Computing Architecture) protocol, which is basically similar to the UNIX X-Window protocol, which allows it to carry out the program with minimum load on the client computer.
In the server, the program part and the interface are not separated; whereas, in the client, the users see and work with the interface of the program, but 100 percent of the program is executed in the server. Winframe has been installed on all databases. The user connects with the server by just clicking on the link on the Web page of the databases. When the connection has been made, access to all programs is available to the user. For many environments, an additional client ICA is needed. This technology has been applied at UV by having Winframe run on the Dual Pentium II 450MHz with 512MB of RAM and 18.5GB of storage for the databases. There are secondary servers to share storage to distribute access to 60 CD-ROMs stored on 35GB of hard disk space.
Users must configure their personal computer, so that they can use databases of Winframe. They have to obtain the program client ICA suitable for each operating system which executes on the computer. Individual users can configure personal computers with Winframe, which can be downloaded from http://download.citrix.com
Library Services at Each Library the specific services, landscape and scope of collections at each library is available on the Web at http://www.uv.es/~infobib with an English version at http://www.uv.es/~vrplan/intro/sld0001.html Collections are difficult to describe, because they are spread out over so many libraries and units. There are many things happening at the libraries of the University of València and conducting a search on any search engine will lead you to the projects.
Maria Carmen Cárcel Más (macarmas@hotmail.com) is a native of València, Spain, and is majoring in Information Science at the University of València. Interested in humanities, she has taken a wide range of courses in languages (English, Portuguese, Catalan), programming languages (Unix, SQL) and has studied music for six years at the Conservatory José Iturbi. She has worked as a Personal Librarian, in archives and libraries planning, and has given lectures about careers in library science and archives to High School students. At present, she is researching methods of access to information, training of information users and has specific interest in the influence of written memory from a diachronic perspective. This is her first major composition in English.