Using OASIS Library to Manage Textbook Control
Contents
All schools have a substantial investment in textbooks and require some means of tracking the issue and return of the books. Most schools use a paper system based on class lists or individual student cards. The paper system can be relatively efficient when issuing books in the first place, and has the advantage of readily being decentralised. However the processing of returns and chasing of un-returned books can be extremely labour intensive trying to match randomly ordered books with randomly ordered paper records.
The issuing and return of textbooks is effectively identical to the Loans and Returns circulation functions of OASIS Library and it can be used as a very efficient way to control textbook management within the school.
OASIS Library will record the textbooks, or indeed any resources, issued to students and allow quick identification of:
The issuing of textbooks is quickly recorded into OASIS by wanding the student's barcode (or identifying them by name), and then wanding the barcodes of the textbooks being issued to that student. It is best suited to a centralised system where students come to the bookroom counter to collect their textbooks.
The return of textbooks is even simpler. Each textbook's barcode is wanded. It is not necessary to know in advance which student is returning the textbook. OASIS will display the name of the student to allow follow up action if the textbook has been damaged.
Students leaving the school may be checked immediately to determine whether any textbooks remain un-returned. For a paper system, this can be a very time consuming task unless records are kept in order by student, in which case issuing and returning of books is much more complex.
In many schools, teaching staff are unaware what text books are held by the school. While the textbook room can issue a list of the holdings, OASIS Library allows catalogue lists to be printed which are tailored to the requirements of each department within the school. These lists will be updated automatically as new resources are added.
OASIS Library can also provide statistics of usage. A survey of the current stock may well reveal that up to half of it is not being used. Getting these items used by promoting them, or disposed of if they are out of date will make for more efficient use of resources and storage space.
If you need to justify to yourself the cost of installing computerised textbook room control, estimate the losses which occur because the manual system cannot accurately track the items and estimate the clerical time spent maintaining and marking off loan schedules. The $3000 capital cost is equivalent to 200 lost $15 books or 30 'wasted' clerical days.
What do I need? What will it cost
OASIS PC, the faster the better to ensure rapid issuing of items $1500
Barcode reader $ 300
Barcodes for each book $35/1000 $ 700
TOTAL $2500
Entering basic catalogue information for 500 items 20 hours
Allocating copy information and attaching barcodes to 20,000 items 50 hours
Part of Library or a separate OASIS System?
Some schools have implemented textbook control as part of their library's normal function. The textbooks are usually held in a separate location (the bookroom), and are recorded in OASIS Library as normal library holdings with a separate location code, e.g. TXT.
This approach means that all information about the school's resources issued to a given student is held in the one place. OASIS Library allows two categories of loans to be defined, FICTION and OTHER. Secondary school libraries will often implement a split borrowing policy with separate loan limits for two different categories of materials. Primary schools frequently do not make this distinction and use a single loan category.
Where the textbooks are combined with the library holdings, the textbook 'loans' will show as part of the student's overall loans. If the categories Fiction and Other are not both used, one can be used to quarantine the textbook loans so that these will not affect the normal library borrowing limits.
On balance, unless the library staff actually control the issuing of textbooks, it is probably preferable to keep the textbook OASIS Library system separate from the school library.
At the start of each term, and more particularly at the start of each year, there is a peak borrowing time when EVERYBODY wants all their text books all at once. The peak issuing load can be addressed in different ways.
For maximum speed, students should have some form of barcoded ID card. This requirement may mean that the process of issuing student ID cards (particularly if they contain a photograph) will need to be reviewed to permit earlier issue. Alternatively a temporary ID card may need to be issued.
Where to put the barcode? No question about this. On the OUTSIDE of the book otherwise you will have to open each book to issue it. In the same position on ALL books - no exceptions or you will waste time trying to find the barcode. Cover it with a barcode protector tape strip to stop damage and reduce the temptation to peel off the label. These are available from library supply houses. Don't waste your valuable time cutting up bits of contact adhesive cover material. It will cost you far more in the time taken. The actual barcode on each book is irrelevant as long as the barcodes are unique. Do not waste time trying to be 'neat' allocating runs of barcodes to a set of books. The barcode number has no significance other that to uniquely identify a book. If a barcode is removed, give the book another one. The 'missing' barcode will surface soon enough when the student that has the book is identified as not having been returned.
There is an initial additional workload required to computerise the bookroom. Some basic catalogue information needs to be entered for each title and a barcode allocated to each copy of the title. OASIS Library makes the allocation of sequential barcodes to multiple copies easy through the Bulk Copy option so it is worthwhile processing all available copies of a given title at the one time.
Before you start, weed the holdings. Dispose of those items which the subject areas consider out of date or will never be used or are damaged beyond repair. There is no point in wasting your time processing items which will never be used again.
The textbooks which are not currently issued can be processed immediately. Other resources can be processed as they are returned.
Group all available copies of each title. Count the number in the pile
Enter the basic catalogue information, Title, Author(s), Publisher, Year (useful if you need to buy more), ISBN, COST. This last one is well worth going to the extra trouble to identify and enter as it will make charging students for lost textbooks very easy. If you are processing additional copies of a title previously entered, you do not need to enter this catalogue information again. <F>ind the title and enter additional copies. It can be worthwhile entering some subject references as this will allow you to generate departmental lists of titles based on the subjects.
Attach the next available barcode to the first copy in the pile. WAND the barcode. Do not trust the automatic allocation of the next barcode. It works, but you may have accidentally used one too many or too few barcodes last time and wanding the barcode will ensure the correct barcode is entered.
Enter the rest of the copy information for this first copy and select <B>ulk. Enter the TOTAL number of textbooks in the pile INCLUDING the one you have just processed. OASIS Library will allocate the next range of barcodes and create the copy records. Attach the barcodes to the books. Cover the barcodes with protector strip. It can be helpful to have three people working as a team: one fetching and carrying, one driving the computer and one sticking barcodes and protector strips. Work out whatever distribution of work keeps you all busy.
The use of OASIS Library can be a very effective way to automate control over textbook holdings. The initial workload is considerably less than for a library because there are far fewer titles involved and many copies. The approach to distribution of textbooks may need to be revised and optimised to ensure that a backlog does not occur at peak times. The efficiencies which result from computerising the paper records are impressive and the system will most likely pay for itself by the reduction in lost books.
Martin Hood
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