WXGB6105: Technologies for Information Management

5^th entry

Where are we going in library automation? - discuss the status of library automation in Malaysia/Asia.

 

Library automation is a term used which means “information and communications technologies (ICT) that are used to replace manual systems in the library.” (Noorhidawati Abdullah 2011). Library functions such as acquisition, cataloguing, serials control, search and retrieval, circulation, reporting and reference service can be automated.

Reference.MD (n.d.) defines library automation as:

         The use of automatic machines or processing devices in libraries. The

automation may be applied to library administrative activities, office 

procedures, and delivery of library services to users.    

Library automation seemed to have started as early as 1960s in other parts of the world such as Canada, Germany, Sweden, UK, USA, and USSR. Library processes that were automated included “acquisitions, serials control, circulation, catalogue card production, book catalogue production, accession lists, KWIC-indexing and even union catalogues” (McCallum 2003, 2).

In Malaysia, the government agency was instrumental in spearheading and molding an IT society as can be seen in the Sixth and Seventh Malaysia Plan. Computer literacy program was introduced in primary and secondary schools under the Sixth Malaysia Plan (1991-1995) whereas under the Seventh Malaysia Plan, every school in the country was to have one microcomputer by the year 2000 in its effort to prepare and shape an IT rich society. The Multimedia Super Corridor, which was launched in 1996 by the Prime Minister, was created to propel the nation into the information and knowledge era. However, according to Teh (1996) computer literacy in school was to be accompanied with knowledge in information searching skills in order to build a successful information society and this could be accomplished in part through the use of CDS/ISIS. UNESCO distributed the CDS/ISIS software to libraries and information centers globally free of charge and in Malaysia, the National Library was the coordinator of the software as well as in providing training. Some schools were identified for a pilot trial study of the implementation of CDS/ISIS which had its screen interfaces replaced with ONLIS (On-line Library Information System) and the training and usage of it were to be done by some teacher-librarians who were then undergoing the MLIS program at University of Malaya. That was in the 1990s (Teh 1996).

In a study conducted by Tee and Abrizah Abdullah (2005) on the status of library automation of Chinese secondary schools in Malaysia in 2005, it was found that 39.3% (22 numbers) of National-type Secondary Schools (NTSS) and 51.5% (17 numbers) of Independent Chinese Secondary Schools (ICSS) have automated library functions. At the time of the study, the researchers sent questionnaires to 60 ICSS and 76 NTSS libraries in which 56 NTSS and 33 ICSS libraries responded. Among the library functions that were automated were circulation (with the highest percentage of 87.2%), cataloguing (76.9%), information retrieval/OPAC (51.3%), acquisition (33.3%), and serial control (5.1%). The study showed that automation of school libraries were done in stages or a module at a time due to financial constraints (Tee and Abrizah Abdullah 2005, 29, 34-35).      

The three most popular systems used in NTSS were Pustakawan, SPPSS and SPPSP which were turnkey systems. Interestingly, the researchers found that all the ICSS libraries did not use any of the 3 turnkeys systems that NTSS used “because they do not support Chinese characters.” Another finding by the researchers that was worthy of note was that CDS/ISIS, a library software for small libraries which was given free by the UNESCO and managed by the National Library of Malaysia, was not used in any of the MCSS libraries for its non-Chinese collections (Tee and Abrizah Abdullah 2005, 37-44).      

In another study carried out on primary and secondary schools in Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur in 2008, the researcher found an increase in the number of schools with automated libraries as compared to a study carried out by the Ministry of Education in 2001. In 2001, 50 out of 266 schools surveyed had automated libraries. By the year 2008, the researcher found that 84 schools out of the 120 which responded in the survey had automated libraries. The functions mostly automated were acquisition, cataloguing, circulation and OPAC, in that order. Favorite systems used were Dynabook, SSMS and Pustaka, also in that order (Junaida Ahmad 2008, 2).  

Elsewhere in Asia, China and India started using technology in libraries in the 1980s although limited.

In China at the year 2007, technology was used at full scale in every aspect of library operation in libraries at urban areas but not so in small cities and rural areas. Automated library functions included cataloging, circulation, acquisitions, reference services and access to many databases through the internet. Internet was introduced in China only in 1994 but many Chinese libraries had created their own web sites and portals and provided services through the internet, thus significantly enhancing their library services to patrons (Sharma 2007, 14).

In India, all their academic libraries used IT dependent systems but public libraries (except for a few), and libraries in small cities and villages do not; in fact technology is not even introduced. In both China and India’s small cities and rural areas and other Asian countries (except for South Korea, Japan and Singapore), there are barriers that prohibit technology being used in libraries such as funding, illiteracy and computer software availability (Sharma 2007, 15-25).

In many Asian countries, poverty is the major obstacle to incorporating technology in libraries. Journals, databases, hardware and software are too expensive for these nations’ libraries. The author, R.N. Sharma (Sharma 2008, 22) “have seen the poor condition of many libraries, their collections, stacks, even furniture during my visits to various countries” and “In a few countries elephants, donkeys, and other animals are still used to transport books to village libraries.” Illiteracy in Asia accounts for 24.4% of its people “including 32.1 percent females (404 million)” and is an insurmountable problem that needs a solution, let alone to even think of introducing technology to libraries! Another barrier is the availability of software for computers in the local languages. Most software is in the English language, which is the main language of the internet, thus depriving certain affected non-English speaking people of the knowledge of information technology (Sharma 2008, 21-24).

In conclusion and from these few articles and readings that I have done, it can be said that there is still much to be done in automating libraries in Asia. It is still a long way to go…   

    

References:

Junaida Ahmad. 2008. A survey of the current status of library automation in primary

        and secondary schools in Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur. MLIS diss., 

        International Islamic University.

        http://lib.iiu.edu.my/mom2/cm/content/view/view.jsp?key=

        anTcUvOMFDJWJGq3CCUYq3dQTmp5RBBY20090324144010250

        (accessed March 6, 2011)

McCallum, Sally. 2003. 40 years of technology in libraries: A brief history of the IFLA

        section on information technology, 1963/64 – 2003.         

        http://archive.ifla.org/VII/s21/publications/40YearsOfSIT.pdf  (accessed March

        6, 2011)

Noorhidawati Abdullah. “Library automation & conventional technologies in libraries” 

        Lecture, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, February 22, 2011.

Reference.MD. n.d. Library automation. 

        http://www.reference.md/files/D016/mD016242.html (accessed March 6,

        2011).

Sharma, R.N. 2008. Can librarians manage technology in developing nations?: A

         library administrator’s view. In Managing technologies and automated library

         systems in developing countries: Open source vs commercial options: 

         Proceedings of the IFLA pre-conference satellite meeting. Bernard Dione,

         and Rejean Savard, eds., 11-32. Munchen, Germany: K.G. Saur Verlag.

Tee, Lay Swee and Abrizah Abdullah. 2005. The status of school library automation in

         Malaysian Chinese Secondary schools: A national survey. Malaysian Journal of

         Library & Information Science, 10(1): 29-48.

Teh, Kang-Hai. 1996. IT utilization and library automation in Malaysian educational
         institutions. http://web.simmons.edu/~chen/nit/NIT'96/96-303-Teh.html
        (accessed Feb 28, 2011).