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North South University Library Management System: Experiences of

customization in library automation and digitization

Conference Paper · August 2015

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 North South University Library Management System: Experiences of
customization in library automation and digitization
Md. Mostafizur Rahman1 , Molla M. Shoeb2,
Rajiv Mahmud3 , Ishrat Jaha Chaudhury4

1
mostafizur.rahman@northsouth.edu
University Librarian, and Head, AIF Management Unit
North South University

2
molla.shoeb@northsouth.edu
Senior Assistant Librarian, North South University

3
rajiv.mahmud@northsouth.edu
Senior IT Officer, North South University
4
ishrat.chaudhury@northsouth.edu
Assistant Library Officer, North South University

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is for sharing experiences of customization of web based bilingual
Library Management System of North South University which has been functioning around one and a half
decades smoothly. The evaluations of library management system, incorporation of various modules as per
requirements of the users, overcome various obstacles and details of different functionality of the system
have been discussed. Some important modules have been included as it is in the paper for visual
presentation.

1. Introduction
North South University (NSU), the first private university in Bangladesh, was established under the
Private University Act (PUA-1992, amended in PUA-2010) in 1992. Since then the NSU library
originated with the latest information technology based system and services and now has become one of
the best university libraries in the country. The NSU Library led off its services to users with around
10,000 books and 2 PCs in 1993. It got internet connection in 1994 and started to develop bibliographic
databases by CDS/ISIS (Computerized Documentation System/ Integrated Set of Documentation
Systems) software in 1995. Commercial Library Automation Software developed by a Bangladeshi
software company was installed in the NSU Library in 1996 which was replaced by customized NSU-
Library Management System (NSU-LMS) in 2002.

Vision of the Library: The NSU Library will be a world-class academic and research library and remain
as a national leader in the integration of information resources, services and technology in ideas and
knowledge.

Mission of the Library: The NSU Library facilitates access to world’s intellectual contents and supports
academic collaboration in teaching, learning and research that connect NSU to global knowledge and new
ideas.

2. Facilities of the Library

The NSU Library is the first fully automated university library in the country using customized Bi-lingual
system NSU-LMS, accustomed by NSU Library, which supports MARC21, web-based online lending
and receiving, browsing bibliographic databases of books, a-v materials, journals, newspapers and
magazines, searching full-text online books, journals and theses, creating digital repositories, auto email
alert services, online membership, possess records of all operation and activities of the library system
including functions of RFID Self-Check and Book-Drop etc. The users can also administer their
borrowing status, renew borrowed resources and reserve three books at a time for 48 hours remotely
through its own website http://library.northsouth.edu. This is the only university library in Bangladesh
where the Library of Congress Classification System is being used to organize and arrange books, reports,
journals and other resources. It also uses federated search engine Knimbus and providing facilities of
plagiarism checking portal Turnitin for enhancing quality of education and research.

The library has introduced state-of-the-art technology Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Based fully
automated Library Management System for the first time in the country in 2012, financed by the World
Bank and the University Grants Commission of Bangladesh under the Higher Education Quality
Enhancement Project (HEQEP).

The library consists of six floors with over 70,000 sq.ft. area and can accommodate over 1,400 students at
a time in its well-furnished reading rooms. The Wi-Fi and broadband internet connection of the library
building help the library users to access online resources easily. Additionally, it maintains a cyber and
audio-visual center equipped with 50 brand computers with Wi-Fi and broadband Internet connection and
also donned with 30 computers in its various floors to use online resources. All students, faculty members
and staff members of the university can browse, download and print materials from these computers free
of cost. On an average 2,500 users use the library every day.

2.1 Resources
A total of around 45,500 books, reports, 6300 bound journals and magazines, over 50,000 online e-books,
around 40,000 online journals, 380 theses, 2,190 CD ROM books and databases, 226 DVDs and videos,
159 audio-cassettes and a good numbers of other resources of the library cover all branches of knowledge.
In addition to these collections, the library subscribes print issues of 46 foreign and 19 local journals, 18
foreign and 22 local magazines, two foreign dailies and almost all leading national dailies of Bangladesh.

2.2 Developing Digital Resources Collection

The NSU Library started subscription to e-resource databases, namely, Economic Literature (EconLit),
Asian Health, Environmental and Allied Databases (AHEAD) and Global Development Finance in 1998.
Before going to subscribe online journals in 2002, it was using open access online journals of
IngentaConnect (aggregator), Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Elsevier Science,
American Society of Agronomy etc. which were hosted on publishers and aggregator’s website for
promotion of their online journals. After that, for the first time in the country, the NSU library started
subscription to online journals in 2002 and MyAthens in 2005. It has subscribed JSTOR, IEEE, ACM
Digital library and 39 titles of online journals including Oxford Economic Papers, Cambridge Journal of
Economics, eight titles of Elsevier Science, etc. in various disciplines in 2002, although Chowdhury, M.
H. H. and Khan, M. S. I. (2012) did not mention it in their article “Libraries and Librarianship in
Bangladesh. In R. N. Sharma (Ed.), Libraries in the early 21st century: an international perspective
(vol.2, pp.101-128). Munich: De Gruyter Saur”. Currently, the library has access to full-text online
research journals and books in various disciplines of 52 aggregators and publishers. Out of 52 publishers’
databases, 37 databases subscribe through Bangladesh INASP-PERi (International Network for the
Availability of Scientific Publications - Program for the Enhancement of Research Information)
Consortium (BIPC), 6 databases subscribe through UGC (University Grants Commission of Bangladesh)
Digital Library (UDL) consortium and rest of them access by individual institutional subscription, free
license agreement or exchange programs.

3 Developing Repositories
The NSU library formally launched its full-text journals and books repositories in 2003 with its own
software NSU-LMS. These two repositories cover books, conference papers and journals articles written
by teachers, students and researchers of NSU and articles of 160 online subscribed journals from 2002 to
date. The numbers of articles and books of these repositories are over 21,500 and around 2000
respectively and it’s increasing day by day. Later the library started digitization of its theses, reports and
news-clippings on NSU by using the same software. All registered members of NSU library get access to
all these digital repositories by using individual username and password from inside and outside campus
through Internet. It should be mentioned here that the NSU library never used open source software, e.g.
DSapce, GreenStone, Koha etc. for automation and digitization of its resources, although Chowdhury, M
H. H., Uddin, M. N., Afroz, H. and Sameni, A. H. (2011) wrote in their article “Building institutional
repositories in Bangladesh using DSpace: a new paradigm of scholarly communication, Library
Philosophy and Practice, http://unllib.unl.edu/LPP/)“ that the NSU library is using DSpace for
Institutional Repository (IR).

3.1 Motivations of the Library for the DRM

Be and better demands of the patrons and global trends in digitization and digital resources, the NSU
library encouraged to approach online digital resources to the university commune and subscribed online
journals in 2002 and also implemented digitization its own resources in 2003.

3.2 Work Forces during the establishment of digital resources

Certain IT expertise Library personnel headed by the university librarian took responsibility to develop
library management system along with a group of IT skills students of NSU leaded by a teacher of the
Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) developed NSU-LMS. These two teams time to
time discussed, modified, updated, upgraded various modules of the library management system, tested
and reviewed functionality before final launching. The titles of the journals and databases were selected
on the ground of requirement of teachers and students of the university. Digitization of its own resources
is opted to the library authority with the approval of the library committee.

3.3 Motivation of the Top Management

The NSU library proposed to subscribe online journals in lieu of subscribing print copy in the Library
committee meeting in April 2002. As the committee members had earlier experiences to use online
journals, therefore the committee agreed to subscribe online journals of various disciplines for the year
2002.

3.4 Motivation of the Library Staffs

The library staffs were encouraged to develop digital resources as they were aware of diversity in
librarianship. Their participation in different training programs, seminars, workshops and visiting libraries
in abroad also helped in this regard.
3.5 Training for the Library Staffs
In the journey of automation & digitalization, NSU library staff participated in different trainings and visit
modern libraries in abroad including UK, USA, Japan, Singapoore, China, Malaysia and India. The
library also arranged a daylong workshop on “Role of Online Resources in Higher Education and
Research” on March 4, 2004. In addition to these, the NSU library has been offering 14 week-long
training Course in Digital and Online Librarianship since Fall 2004.

3.6 Selection process of the software

When the NSU library started subscription to online digital resources and launched library website in
2002, there was proprietary software available in the market but none of them was smoothly functional in
Bangladesh. Open Sources Library Management Software was not in the field of library till then. On the
other hand, the cost of foreign software was very high so the library authority decided to develop a new
customized software. As the NSU library has been using a customized library automation software since
1996 so the library authority decided to upgrade existing software which was developed in Foxpro and
Visual Basic.6 platform. At that time, a student of business school took a project work in his MIS course
on Library Management Software and talked to the librarian about his software development. After his
course work the student upgraded his software with the help of the Librarian and his team along with a
teacher of the department of CSE and a group of his students. They worked together to develop web
based NSU-LMS and a new library website on the platform of PHP and MySQL. This upgraded web
based NSU-LMS along with full-text digital repository and new library website were finally inaugurated
by then Minister for Commerce, Govt. of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in June 2003.

3.7 Obstacle and Solution

On the journey to automation and digitization, number of obstacles came across. Main obstacle was
knowledge gap between Library personnel and IT experts. So, we have to provide our requirements in
written text, diagram, sometimes in layout, long discussion and sitting in front of computer to overcome
this barrier. Another issue was the selection of software platform. Long debate was done for selecting
platform whether the library use Oracle or MySQL, finally the library selected MySQL and PHP. In the
beginning, the software was not properly supporting Bengali fonts but this obstacle has been overcome
after incorporating Unicode/Utf-8 Bengali fonts.

3.8 Fund collection

The Library personnel, teacher and students of the NSU developed the NSU-LMS. There was no financial
involvement but the students got remuneration as per student worker policy of the university. However,
the existing new look of software and website is developed by Higher Education Quality Enhancement
Project (HEQEP) fund.

3.9 Users training

The library arranges orientation program in the beginning of each semester for newly admitted students to
make them familiar with system, services and facilities. Additionally, the library arranges introduction
classes for the teachers and students of the various departments to make them familiar with digital and
online resources of the library.
4. North South University Library Management System
North South University - Library Management System (NSU-LMS) is a customized integrated system
developed by a group of students of the Department of CSE, NSU with the cooperation of library
personnel. It is a web based system, developed in PHP and MySQL platform, where all library operations
and activities were incorporated in two interfaces, namely, (1) Admin and (2) Web.

4.1 Admin Interface

The admin interface is designed for acquisition and processing, circulation, membership, record-keeping
and management, digitization, networking, library administration and policy making. This Interface
further divided into three modules like, (i) Acquisition and Processing (ii) Circulation, and (iii)
Member’s.

Fig. 1: Admin Interface

4.1.1 Acquisition and Processing Module

This module is consisted of data entry of books, A-V materials, journals, magazines, newspapers and
theses, uploading full-text contents and images, barcode generation, backup system, clear archives and
downloads book data options.

The data entry work-sheet is formed according to AACR-2 for bibliographic data along with uploading
pdf file and image. Some more entry lines have been included in the sheet to meet the requirements of the
automation and digitization of the library resources and it is compatible with MARC21 format.

Book Entry: The book data entry work-sheet is arranged with the items- Accession Number, Authors,
Editors, Translators, Compilers, Foreword By, Introduction By, Illustrated By, Title &Sub Title,
Translated Title, Edition, Volume, Part, Vol. Title & Part Title, CD / DVD Accession, Place of
Publication, Publisher, Year, Collation, Index, Bibliography, ISBN, Series, Series Editor, Call Number,
Category (book, report, CD/DVD etc.),Bill Code, Date Received, Date Ordered, Price, Converted Price,
Source, Confined, Location, Quantity, Description, and Keywords . There is an option to upload cover
page, pdf file and image.

Fig. 2: MARC21 data import interface

Journal: The journal or e-journal data entry work-sheet is consisted of- Journal Title, ISSN, Frequency,
Subscription Rate, Publisher, Source, Issue, Volume, and Day/ Month/Year with an option to upload pdf
file.

Magazine/Newspaper: For Printed Magazine/Newspaper/News-Clipping, the data entry work-sheet is

consisted of- Title, Frequency, Issue, Volume, Day/ Month/Year along with option to upload pdf file.

Thesis: For Thesis Paper entry sheet is arranged with- Thesis Title, Author ID (NSU ID), Author Name,
Supervisor, Institute, Department, Degree name, Total Page, Place of publication, Year and Keywords
along with uploading pdf file.

Audio-Visual: The data entry work-sheet of a-v materials is arranged with – Accession, Title, Subtitle,
Author, Editor, Translator, Producer, Director, Publisher / Distributor, Place, Year, CD with Book, Call
No, Medium (CD/VDV/Audio Cassette, etc.), Runtime, Subject, Quantity, Bill Code, Date Received,
Date Ordered, Price, Converted Price, Source, ISBN, Description and Keywords.

There is option to download book data in a text file for transferring to DLA (Digital Library Assistance),
a small electronic device of RFID system is used to searching and sorting books on shelf according to call
number. It also generates library membership and book bar-code, facilitated manual data backup
(although the system maintain auto data backup in every hour) and clear archives.

4.1.2 Circulation Module

This module is consisted of circulation (loan and return), reservation management, clear fine, auto-email
alert and news and events of the library.
All types of library resources can be issued and returned to the individual user through the circulation
option, upload news and events of the library, and auto-email alert services to the registered users for
over-due items of the library. There is an option to manage online reserved books and clear overdue fine
of the library members.

Circulation of Book/Audio-Visual/Journal/Magazine:
Admin user input library user’s id number and accession number of the resources for circulation. Member
can also use RFID Self-Check Machine to issue or return library resources by themselves.

Fine Clearance: If student fails to return borrowed books on due date, fine is calculated by the system.
Without returning book and clearing fine he/she is not allowed for further library transaction. Moreover,
next semester registration is also kept holding on. In this case, student must clear his fine by bank
payment and also from library system clearance.

Fig. 3: circulation interface

Regulate Reservation: Admin user can cancel any reservation if needed.

Auto email Alert: Auto email is sent by the system itself to the library members for reminding their
borrowed over-due items.

News and Events: News with photographs of any event of the library can upload on the library website
through this function.

4.1.3 Member’s Module

This module is designed to manage library members and their facilities. Its consisted of Membership
Application, Admin Member, Modify membership, Check member status, Delete member, Member
suspension, Member validity, View Recorded Activities, Member’s facilities, Member’s privileges,
Manage departments, IP set permission and View drop-Box Massages.

Membership: Interested faculty members, students and officers of the university apply through online
membership application form to the library. The admin user of library verify the application and approve
online if find all information are correct. After the approval, the member’s information automatically
saved in the membership database. Then the applicant gets an individual library membership number and
password by email. If the application is incomplete, an email is sent to the applicant for correction.

.
Fig. 4: Online membership approval (part one)

Fig. 5: Online membership approval (part two)

Admin Member: Super Admin creates Admin member and set privileges for individual admin member
according to his/her nature of job in the library. Every admin member gets individual user name and
password. The super admin set admin privileges from this table.

Fig. 6: Admin member privilege interface

Super admin can modify admin member’s information and admin user can also modify user’s
information, check member status, delete member, member suspension, member validity, if this privilege
is given by super admin.
 Fig. 7: Library members’ facilities setup

Super admin can modify admin member’s information and admin user can also modify user’s
information, check member status, delete member, member suspension, member validity, if this privilege
is given by super admin.

Members’ Facilities: Admin user can assign members’ facilities according to policy of the library, like
number of borrowed resources, duration of loan, overdue fine rate etc.

Manage Departments: Admin user can fix the duration of validity of membership according to policy
and their affiliated departments.

Fig. 8: Manage departments

View Recorded Activities: Admin user can view statistics and different activities of the library as per their
need.
 Fig. 9: View activities and statistics

4.2 Web Interface

Nowadays, Library website is an effective interface which is designed in such a way that it can build
relationship between users and library resources. All facilities and services are laid on the website for
easily accessible to resources and maximum utilization of services. The NSU library website homepage
is presented in different groups of facilities and services, namely, About Library, Library Catalogue
Search, Online Services, Repositories, Print Archives and Remote Access. The first group describes
general information about the library, its policies, user guide etc.

Catalogue Search: The library system

provide Keywords (basic) and Guided
(advanced) search facilities through
online for all, the library member can
reserve three books at a time for 48
hours.
Everyone can view the availability of the
resources, its location in the library and
if it is issued than date of returning the
resources. User can write comment on
book and view the rate of use of book.

Fig. 10: Home page

Fig. 11: Search Result (part one)

 Fig. 12: Search Result (part two)

Admin member can view the details about the member who issued the book and can call it back if needed.
The member can view the usage status of the resources and the latest added 100 books and other
resources on the website

Online Services: The library member can reissue/renew the borrowed books, check their borrowing status
and they can place their query and demand to the library personnel through online.

Repositories: The library maintains full-text repositories of e-journal, e-book since 2003 and e-thesis, e-
news-clipping since 2014. All registered users can navigate these repositories and read, download full-
text articles, books, theses by using membership number and password.

Fig. 13: Repository search result

Print Archives: NSU-LMS maintain databases of print journal, magazine and newspaper. The
bibliographic data of all databases of print materials are searchable through internet.
 Fig. 14: Print archive search result

Remote Access: My Athens has been giving the privilege for remote access to the subscribed online
books and journals since 2005, but for having access to full-text digital repositories of NSU, individual
library membership number and password is required.

5 Future Plan
The library will expend web-based library services to meet the demands of the users. It will also set up an
Institutional Research Repository, Virtual Private Network (VPN) and join to more national and
international consortium and collaborative networks.

6 Conclusion
When none of the library management software was functioning well in Bangladesh then the NSU library
developed a customized integrated library management system, i.e. NSU-LMS by the students and library
personnel of the university. All standard modules of automation and digitization were in this system. The
system management team always kept it up to date as per requirements of the users. This is only
customized integrated library management system in Bangladesh which has been functioning without any
difficulties in last one and a half decade.

Before going to customize any system, it is necessary for library personnel to make clear about
requirements and future plan of action of the organization. Short term and long term goals must be
determined and present it clearly before the system management team. If the library personnel do not
have enough expertise in that case may look for help from experts. Our experience says that IT expert
along with IT librarians are necessary for identifying problems, determining requirements and best fit
them with the system. This is the era of open source and open access so it is very common opening up
new Free Open Source System (FOSS) in the field of library management. The library professionals must
be prepared themselves to customize FOSS in their respective library to meet the goals of the
organization. FOSS makes the library manager’s job easier as compare to before. Where the NSU library
developed customized system NSU-LMS with hardworking in one year but now customization of any
open source ILS may take a few days. Good thing does not come easy but good FOSS makes the library
management fast and easy.

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