Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The research is entitled for “ Automated Public Cataloguing System of Pangasinan State University- Asingan Campus”. Nowadays, in a highly technological society, human productivity is made more efficient through the development of electronic gadgets. Now, with the advent of such modernization in education, one way to globalize the process of research is to realize that technology is advancing at an incredibly fast pace. Computers are not confined to being used for entertainment but its role in education is also vast. Academic libraries, whether private or public, have been considered as essential part of advanced learning. It should not be operated on as a mere storehouse of books attached to a reading room, but as a dynamic instrument of education. It plays a very vital role in the life of a nation. It feeds the intellect of students, faculty, researchers, scholars, and casual readers and also those who enter its place to partake fully its intellectual and cultural fare. A library is where people go to seek solitude or read any reading materials they needed or they are interested in. People read maybe just for entertainment, researching, passing time, learning new things, exploring, and so on. Library provides the reading materials that people might want to read like dictionary, encyclopedia, periodicals, textbooks, magazines, and so on. Library is derived from the old French term “ librairie” which means “ a collection of books. ” Reading materials in school are stored in libraries. Library is a place in which books and related materials are kept for use but not for sale. It is also organized for use and maintained by a public body, an institution or a private individual. In addition, it is a place in which we get information in any format and from many sources. The librarian has to keep the room neat so that it is conducive for learning. The librarian is also the person who is liable for monitoring all the books that are borrowed and returned by the borrowers. The library automation is very much timely as we approach the new millennium as technology arises. The proposed system was improved the manual process done during the transaction. It lessened the time in every transaction in all process in its circulation such as Borrowing, Returning, Searching, and as well as making report. It would be easier to monitor status of books. With this proposed system, work would become more efficient, accurate and reliable as well as in making reports because through Automated Public Cataloguing System for Pangasinan State University — Asingan Campus it can easily monitor status of books. To the librarian, it was lessened the workload. The Automated Public Cataloguing System will help the librarian to determine if the book is available or not and this will trace if the book has been returned. Through the Automated Public Cataloguing System the transaction and searching of books made easy and it lessen the time in every transaction in its circulation. It would be easy to spot the availability of the books and more efficient, accurate and reliable as well as in making reports, through this Automated Public Cataloguing System for Pangasinan State University —Asingan Campus it can easier to generate required reports BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY In this fast changing world, the use of technology was becoming more and more abundant, popular, and familiar to people. Luckily, humans have had came up with how they were going to improve it through the use of practice and, that is, Information Technology. It helped the people in many ways. It opened the window for the development of different fields such as in the fields of science and technology. A library is a collection of information, sources, resources and services , organized for use and maintain by a public body, an institution or a private individual. In more traditional sense, it means a collection of books. Library has thousands of books in stock. It has books on various topics, subjects and events. New books are added from time to time. They are classified and indexed according to their subjects. The labeling of books helps the reader to get a particular book without any difficulty. To find out the library number of a particular book, one can take the help of the subject and author index. Most libraries keep a book display track where new arrivals are kept. Students or readers can increase their knowledge of various subjects by reading in the library during his spare time. One can update one’s knowledge by reading regularly in a library. A reader or a student can borrow a book for home if he has a card. The books are issued for a limited period. If the reader does not return the book on the due date, he has to pay a fine as per the library rules. If a reader loses a book, he has to replace the lost book with a new one or pay the price of the book. This system is to prevent from losing of books because some of the students didn’t return the books according to the agreement date and time. It will also record all the books in the library so that it would be easy for them to determine if there is missing. The readers are supposed to keep the books in good condition. The researcher fined modern advances in technology as the answer to the existing problems of the present library system. Through the use of computer technology, the searching for information of particular books and inquiry of its availability will become fast and more accurate, the effective processing of records. In order to reduce the traditional manual process the researchers have had came up with this study and constructed a system that was an attempt toward immediate, useful and specialized handling of any information. The researchers presents a better and organized way of borrowing, returning, and cataloguing of books, through this proposed system the library provides a file handling facility that includes adding, editing, and searching of information of books and so as the information of borrowers as well. This research was a descriptive – development type. It was descriptive because it illustrates the step by step process of development of Automated Library System. The software development model used in this research includes the requirements analysis, high level design, and detailed specification, coding, unit testing, integration testing and operational testing. It is development because there’s an optional and functional information system as a result. Information regarding the requirements and process needed in developing the system were gathered and utilized in coding the Automated Public Cataloguing System. It was found out that the development of the system for Automated Public Cataloguing System was usable for the students and library employees of Pangasinan State University —Asingan Campus. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM This study aims to answer the following problem. What are the problems encountered by the librarian and the students of Pangasinan State University — Asingan Campus regarding: 1. Borrowing and returning of books 2. Classifying of books 3. Computation of penalty due 4. Unmanageable record and list of books. 5. The librarian needs enough time to track down the borrowed and returned book. 6. Manual in locating and knowing the availability of the books. 7. The process are separated into different forms. Significance of the study This study will be an important tool to advance scholarly exchange between members and academe. It will also benefit library goers and librarians in making their once tedious process of finding books much faster and easier. The system aims to increase efficiency and accuracy of the library so that it will function effectively. It improves the library’s function as an institution for knowledge. It will also be possible to do some task more thoroughly than with manual procedures such as regular claiming of books or doing things that cannot be done in paper files. To the University- this study will help the institution provides an easy access and up-to-date information. From the Library it also provides immediate accessibility and the information with easier flow of transaction and keeping records using the proposed system. To the Librarian and Library staff- the proposed system will help the library staff to of Pangasinan State University — Asingan Campus most especially the to lessen the time and effort in reading borrowed by the users. The system accommodates changing figures and produces a paperless environment through well designed database. To the Students- proposed system will help the users to spot the availability books. To the Researchers — this study will help the researchers to enhance the ability on how to create an understandable Automated System in an easy way. To other Researchers — this study will served as a fresh ground for the researchers whose study will be related in the field of I. T. Scope and Delimitation This project covered the circulation of Library System of Pangasinan State University — Asingan Campus. The circulation covers the borrowing of books, returning of books, searching of books and cataloguing of books. There are four types of user of the system namely: the librarian, the library staffs, PSU faculty and students. The research is focused on the application of systematic borrowingand returning of books. This study has no exact class of listing so that those who registered upon borrowing and returning books will be recorded. In borrowing, books that borrowed are encoded from the user number and accession of books. It can determine if the user is delinquent as well as in returning process. The searching process enabled the user to view the needed information, books/materials, by encoding the book title, author and call number. It can firmly determine if the books are available or not available in the library. The librarian can easily determine the status of the user to monitor if the user has corresponding penalties.