Vol.1,Issue.7/May. 2013
ISSN : 2319-8435
Research Papers
OPEN SOURCE LIBRARY MANAGEMENT SOFTWARES
SUKHWINDER RANDHAWA
Assistant Librarian
Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID)
Abstract
Open source software are those which permit execution, copy, read, distribution and improvement of the software without any restrictions. Library Management Software (LMS), is an enterprise resource planning system for a library, used to track items owned, orders made, bills paid, and patrons who have borrowed. Commercial library management software are very expensive. Therefore, open source library management system can be appropriate alternatives for automatic library systems.
This paper discusses features of open source library management software, criteria of selection of best open source library management software, their, advantages and limitations. Open source library management software is a solution to reduce that cost. The paper describes in brief about the feature of some of the open source library management software like Koha, NewGenlib, Evergreen, SENAYAN,
ABCD, and BiblioteQ.
KEYWORDS:
Open Source Software, Library automation, Library Management Software.
INTRODUCTION
Library automation is concerned with managing, controlling and automating library activates, and services. In an automated library, computers are used in most of the activities, such as acquisition, cataloguing, circulation control and periodical management. Library automation not only does housekeeping activities, but it also provide the current and relevant information to the users, according to their demands. Libraries do not have huge funds to experiment, and they don 't usually purchase additional resources. The need for library management software, its installation, training and the lack of financial resources have forced many libraries to stand for themselves when it comes to staying up to date
with
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