Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

1999

Abstract

Interlibrary loan (ILL) system is one of the important library services provided by most public libraries. Through ILL, public libraries share their collections of reading material and library users are able to access library resources beyond their affiliated libraries. However, the present manual ILL process is inconvenient, inefficient and error-prone. In this project, we developed a system that automated many tedious procedures in the existing ILL system. The new ILL system is realized by a number of Java applets customized for librarians and library users. The new ILL system allows library users to submit ILL requests at any time using their favorite Web browsers without being physically present at the libraries. ibrarians can also process ILL requests as and when they have accessed to Java -enabled Web browsers. The new ILL implementation is achieved without forcing libraries to sacrifice their local autonomy over their legacy library systems, e.g. Online Public Acess Catalogue (OPAC) System. For each participating library, two databases containing incoming and outgoing ILL requests respectively are maintained. The entire ILL process is tracked by multiple ILL Java applets updating the borrowing and lending libraries' databases.

Keywords

Interlibrary loan (ILL) system is one of the important library services provided by most public libraries. Through ILL, public libraries share their collections of reading material and library users are able to access library resources beyond their affiliated libraries. However, the present manual ILL process is inconvenient, inefficient and error-prone. In this project, we developed a system that automated many tedious procedures in the existing ILL system. The new ILL system is realized by a number of Java applets customized for librarians and library users. The new ILL system allows library users to submit ILL requests at any time using their favorite Web browsers without being physically present at the libraries. ibrarians can also process ILL requests as and when they have accessed to Java -enabled Web browsers. The new ILL implementation is achieved without forcing libraries to sacrifice their local autonomy over their legacy library systems, e.g. Online Public Acess Catalogue (OPAC) System. For each participating library, two databases containing incoming and outgoing ILL requests respectively are maintained. The entire ILL process is tracked by multiple ILL Java applets updating the borrowing and lending libraries' databases.

Discipline

Databases and Information Systems | Library and Information Science

Publication

Network Information: Official Journal of the Library Information Technology Association

Volume

3

First Page

15

Last Page

34

ISSN

0218-9410

Publisher

Library and Information Technology Association, Singapore

Additional URL

http://www3.ntu.edu.sg/home/sfoo/publications/1999/99ninfo_fmt.pdf

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