LIBRARY NOTES
Heidi Haas
What is Retrospective Conversion?
Thursday, June 1, 1995
or... Why are the Stacks Closed?
The Library is undertaking an inventory and barcoding project both to verify our understanding of what the Library owns and to lay the foundation for a computerized circulation and reserve system. In our history, we have never conducted a complete inventory of the collection. The result will be a more accurate card catalog and less member and staff time spent searching for books that no longer remain in the collection. Mr. Piel will review the missing books to determine if any should be reordered.
As we match our shelf list (the Library's record of what it owns) to the books on the shelves, we are applying bar-code stickers to shelf list cards and books. The bar code contains a number that will identify each individual book in a computer system. Once this process is complete, we will send our shelf list to a vendor, who will convert our paper-based records into machine (computer) readable form.
After computerization, we will be able to: determine which books members have checked out, and their due dates; conduct sophisticated computer searching of the Library's holdings; and discover whether books have been ordered by the Library. The staff will also be relieved of much clerical drudgery, such as mailing overdue postcards and renewal notices, tasks that are ideally suited to computers. The automation of these and similar tasks should enable the staff to spend more time assisting members, and on upgrading and maintaining our collection. So, while the staff regrets the temporary inconvenience of stack closures, we are certain that the members will agree that in the long run our Library will be improved.
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