Libraries have always been there to provide support – for customers, students, faculty and the public. As technology changes and needs evolve, have the library systems changed to continue meeting the needs of its constituents? This interesting topic came to us from The Scholarly Kitchen in their article, “Guest Post — Library Vendor Platforms Need a Strategic Reboot to Meet Librarian Curriculum Development Needs.”
Before discussing library management systems, it might help to talk about systems in general. A system is something formed of parts, each of which interacts with the other parts to achieve some common purpose. In the case of a library management system, the parts work together to support the management of library information resources: their acquisition, representation and circulation.
A library management system is an example of an information system. An information system, whether it is computerized or not, is a system that represents objects in a physical system.
With open access, new platforms and the challenges over the past year with social distancing and non-traditional learning, libraries are facing hurdles and obstacles like never before. The business model of libraries are being forced to adapt.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Access Innovations, the world leader in taxonomies, metadata, and semantic enrichment to make your content findable.
