Application of Mobile Technology In Library Stock Verification:
A Case Study
N.SURESH
Ph.D. Research Scholar,
Department of LIS, Alagappa University, Karaikkudi - 630 003
Librarian, Government Law College, Trichy-620 023
Dr. S. THANUSKODI
Professor and Head
Dept. of LIS, Alagappa University, Karaikkudi - 630 003
ABSTRACT
This article explain the use of the mobile technology (LoMag) and "Auto Lib" library automation software for stock verification in the library of Government Law College ,Trichy. The complete procedure, ie, Books barcode scanning with LoMag barcode scanner for Android, data capturing, downloading, modification and uploading along with data processing and report generation have been described.
Keywords: Library Stock verification, Mobile technology, Lomag app, AUTOLIB
INTRODUCTION:
Library stock verification is the process of checking all the items on a library's shelves against a list of holdings to identify for replacement those missing and not checked out. A similar procedure is used to check other library property such as furniture and equipment against an authority list to identify missing items. Also refers to the list itself, which may include descriptions, quantities, prices paid, etc. (Reitz, Joan M.)
Stock verification helps to replace those missing documents and take apposite precautionary measures to reduce the theft. Besides this, the identification of damaged books for binding, Shelf rectification, cleaning and weed out of unused books are also performed simultaneously. Traditionally the procedures adopted for inventory checking are, i) Verification by Accession Register, ii) Using a separate register with Accession Numbers, iii) Slips containing Accession Numbers, iv) Numerical counting, v) Shelf registers cards or shelf list cards . The above methods are tedious, time consuming, and error flat due to manual procedures.
This article explains the Procedure to stock verification using mobile technology and AUTOLIB software.
GOVERNMENT LAW COLLEGE, TRICHY LIBRARY
Government Law College , Trichy was established in the year 1979 by Government of Tamilnadu. The college was recognised by the Bar council of India and is affiliated to The Tamilnadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University Chennai, the college is under UGC 12B and 2F status. The Main objective of this college is to provide Effective and Quality Legal Education at an affordable cost to the students hailing from rural areas. This college offers Five Year B.A.LL.B ,LL.B Course ,Three LL.B Course and Two Year LL.M course in Labour and Administrative Law with a total strength of 1400 students.
Library and information centre plays a vital role in supporting and furthering the academic and research mission of Government Law College, Trichy and facilitates creation and dissemination of knowledge. The range and quality of services offered by the Library are comparable to any modern libraries in Law Schools.
Library serves as a steward of wonderful treasures ranging from Books, Journals, M.L Dissertations, Law reports Newspapers , Periodicals , Online database and E-question Papers with total collection 32400 Books for its users community. The Library functions are automated using an integrated Library Software called “AUTOLIB” with the barcode technology, and Provide facility to the users access Automatic Library gate register facility, Online Public access catalogue and Digital knowledge centre.
BARCODE LABELING
Each Book in a Government Law College trichy Library having barcode labelling use accession number for this purpose.
The labels designed using Bar Tender Ultra lite software for Windows, which supports major barcode symbologies. Code 128, a high density linear symbology that can encode text, numbers, several functions and the entire 128 ASCII character set was selected for designing the labels and Citizen CL-S621Z printer using to take Print out the Barcode labels. Figure 1 shows the barcode label design specifications.
LOMAG BARCODE SCANNER FOR ANDROID
Lomag app can change your phone into a data collector without any limitations to the amount of collected codes, completely free of charge.The barcode reader supports the following most of the code formats .The most important functions of the application are Continuous scanning of successive barcodes with quantity, Barcode scanning and input of quantity from keybord , Barcode scanning and input of quantity and price and Scanning of barcode and serial number Support of many data sets, which may be named and browsed. Data sets may be saved in Microsoft Excel format compatible with version 97 and newer. The app allows you to send files via e-mail or save them on an SD card. Download LoMag from Google Play store.
PROCEDURE OF LOMAG BARCODE SCANNER
To start scanning barcodes need to open a new file where the information about scanned barcodes will be stored to do that, click on the first icon in the app which is called "Add file “. a window with a request to confirm the creation of a new file will be displayed ( change the name of the file). Click "Confirm" to continue. The scanner will now running scan the barcode with the phone camera of android phone and it will scan, recognize and save the barcode and informed that the code has been scanned by a sound , vibration and text information at the bottom part of the screen. After scanning the code the scanner resets the display, and it is ready to scan another barcode. After scanning and go to the main menu of the app, click the icon in the top left-hand side corner see the list of the scanned barcodes in the "Data preview" after that download data in to excel file or send the Excel document with the barcodes to an e-mail address.
BARCODE CAPTURING, MODIFICATION AND UPLOADING IN EXCEL
Lomag installed android mobile phones used as barcode scanner. The lomag scanner scans the encoded data and automatically decodes and stores up to storage capacity of phone of data in the memory. Each Book was scanned and stamped (month and year) manually at the inside backcover to avoid duplication. As the accession number differs from one to other, In this stock verification process totally four person employed , two person scanned the barcode label (accession number) of documents and other two persons marked the documents. The Lomag Scans approx. 250 accession numbers in one hour and its complete the entire 32400 Books in Seven days . During scanning, the app stores the accession number of each document and automatically displays the document number for a moment. If a data scanned is wrong, it can be manually updated or rescanned, and if a document has been in advertently scanned multiple times, the terminal simply stores the documents with duplicate accession numbers.The data was downloaded into and was saved in a data file (*.xls) in the computer. During scanning, the app stores the accession number of each document and automatically displays the document number for a moment. If a data scanned is wrong, it can be manually deleted and rescanned, and if a document has been in advertently scanned multiple times, the terminal simply stores the documents with duplicate accession numbers it will be remove excel sorting option.
AUTO LIB - STOCK VERIFICATION MODULE
As the entire collection of GLCT library was catalogued in the Autolib, the data analyses and report generation was carried out through the Autolib stock module. This module allows for stock verification of library resources using excel file (xls) and generate reports of books such as - missing, lost, issued, binding, transferred condemned, available, etc.
DATA ANALYSIS
The AUTOLIB provides Stock verification in two ways; accession numbers one by one, and list of accession numbers in a excel file. All verified accession numbers are stored in a file. The system registers accession numbers for verification in the database. After matching the accession number from the excel file, the AUTOLIB automatically generate reports of books such as - missing, lost, issued, binding, transferred condemned, available, etc. in PDF format .
STOCK VERIFICATION REPORT
As the term stock verification implies only on stock, a list of missing accession numbers is generated against the captured data file. After several cross checking, the final verification report is prepared in a text (*.txt) file. The
CONCLUSION
Mobile technology is reliable and easy to use. It improves accuracy and accelerates the processing time, eliminates the typing errors, decreases the costs and improves the services. During the stock verification period, routine library activities can be carried out without any disturbance. Data-capturing Phones is handy and portable, and there is no problem of scanning the data multiple times. There is only disadvantage is no provision for finding duplicate entry. . Overall, the technology is beneficial for carrying out stock verifications in libraries. Since there is no human intervention, the verification report generated by the system is perfect and accurate.
REFERENCES
2. Rajendiran P. and Indu Bhushan Automated Library Stock Verification with Barcode and LibSys DESIDOC Bulletin of Information Technology, Vol. 26, No. 5, September 2006, pp. 17-21.
