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Several libraries all over the world have to undergo a lot of effort in order to maintain their records and information in an organized and an efficient manner so as to make work all the more easy for the employees of the company. Computerized systems could be helpful in order to attain this goal but there are still many companies or libraries that handle their records using a manual system which is normally very much slow, unorganized and involves a lot of storage space due to the excessive paperwork involved in the process. An example of a library that still makes use of the manual system is the Dubai Library. The Dubai Library is quite a small lending library, which opened up in 1996 and since then has kept up to its reputation of having a variety of books of all categories for all age groups. Having about 7 employees in the library, it was able to serve its customers well but they surely had to face problems in the updating of records in their ledgers. This problem indirectly started to affect the customers who had to often wait for long periods till the employees searched for the name of the book that had been issued. The manager of the Dubai Library, Mr. Jai, soon realized that the system had to be changed in order to run the library and cope to the needs of the increasing customers. There could be several solutions to this problem being faced and so to help the library choose the best option, Mr. Jai appointed me to convert the old and slow manual system into a successful and user-friendly system. The best way to understand or to analyze the current system of working was to work with the observation of the manual system. For about a week, I witnessed the library system as if I were one of the employees working there. This not only helped me to understand the system properly but also to know more about the different types of problems faced by the employees. Through this procedure, I also distributed a questionnaire to the employees so as I could easily work out their problems and have them written clearly for myself. One of the forms are shown below: Name: Company: Occupation: Activities Done: ____________________________________________________ How does the present system work? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________ What are the problems you are facing? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________ What modifications would you suggest? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ The Manual System After collecting and understanding the information given in the questionnaires, I was clear how the present system of the company was running. There were files and ledgers of many types in the company, which had to be updated by the secretary on a daily basis so as to keep a record of the daily sales and the new customers added to the system or the records. Customers arrive at the library at a frequent basis borrowing or returning books as needed. New customers arrive and have to undergo a certain method of subscription in order to set up their record in the various files on the library. As soon as the new customer comes and asks for a subscription in the library, the librarian hands over a data capture form to him/her and then the prospective member fills it up and returns it to the librarian with the details. According to the type of subscription opted for, the customer is charged accordingly. The library had only the facility of cash payment so as to help them keep their prices low by not going in for the credit card system, which requires a certain amount of interest to the company (The data capture form is shown on the next page). Various types of files and ledgers are part of this current manual system and these need to be regularly updated to allow for easy reference and to keep an account of the members, customers and the books in the library. The many ledgers include: The Books Ledger (Stock) The Customer Ledger The Borrowed Books Ledger The Dubai Library secretary updated these after each book is borrowed, returned or a new customer arrives or a customer has either left the subscription or wants to modify his subscription. This updation process was done in three ways: Adding of records, Deleting of records and Modifying or Editing the records. As soon as the new customer finished the filling up of forms, the details of the form were used to add a record in the customer ledger as on a new page with a specific new membership number. The type of subscription determined the amount to be paid by the customer. After the ledger had the details written in it, the subscription form was taken and filed into the customer file, which had various other similar forms in it, and this file was stored in a drawer labeled ‘Members’. The membership number, date of subscription and the member name was then written in hand by the librarian onto a membership card which was then issued to the customer and it was this card that helped the library to identify the customer. It was necessary for the customer to show up this card as a proof of subscription whenever he visited the library. It was something like this: Dubai LibraryDubai, United Arab EmiratesP.O.Box 999, 04-2525874E-mail: dublib@emirates.net.aeName: ______________________Subscription Date: _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ _Date of expiry: _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ _ If a customer leaves the subscription of the library, then the updation process includes the deletion of the record from the files and ledgers. The deletion process is quite simple but not at all neat in its ways. As soon as the customers opts out of subscription, the appropriate record of the customer is found out and simple crossed out in the ledger where as in the customer file the subscription form is pulled or taken out and torn so as to delete the customers information from this manual database to save storage space. Modification of records is an important aspect of any manual process. Because details are just taken down in ledgers and there is no other way of changing it, the modifications are made wherever the record is.
Approximate Word count = 4146
Approximate Pages = 16.6
(250 words per page double spaced)
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