Simmons College

Library Automation Systems

This course provides an overview to the historical, current, and future automation and technological concerns facing information professionals in a variety of library information settings. It examines various functional components of automated library systems in acquiring, harvesting, organizing, maintaining, accessing, circulating, and disseminating collections. The course covers the process and principles of managing and evaluating library automation systems, including functional specifications, needs assessment, vendor review, RFPs, system implementation and customization, systems integration, and usability testing. It also addresses state of the art library automation trends, including incorporating new technologies such as wikis, RSS feeds, user tagging, and participatory services into library systems. Class activities may involve presentations and demos from vendors and systems librarians and possible site visits. Course requirements may include exercises using components of one or more integrated library systems (ILS). Projects may include vendor profiling, comparative analysis of online public access catalogs (OPACs) and other ILS modules, RFPs for library system products, and investigative reports on Library 2.0 technologies. Pre-requisite: LIS 415 and LIS 488.