An extended Public Enquiry system at the University of Hull
| Pages | 25-30 |
| Published date | 01 January 1990 |
| Date | 01 January 1990 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb040431 |
| Author | Bridget Towler |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
25
An extended Public Enquiry system at the
University of Hull
by
Bridget Towler
Systems
Librarian,
University
of Hull
Background
W
hen Hull University became the first
UK library to install the Geac 8000
system in
1980,
the Brynmor Jones Library was
fortunate in having programming staff from the
University Computer Centre seconded to the
Library on a semi-permanent
basis.
By
1986
the
programming
team,
which has varied in number
from 1 to 3 over the years, had already created
one of the first networked OPAC systems in the
country and had also started to use the 8000 for
non-library systems. GEMS (an electronic
message facility) available to all members of the
University without the need for separate regis-
tration had proved so popular with students that
the number of terminals in the Library access-
ing the system simultaneously had to be re-
duced in order to prevent other library users
being denied access to the
catalogue.
Also,
both
a Careers Information system and a Stores sys-
tem have been in daily use by many depart-
ments in the University since 1986. All these
facilities were made available via the main Pub-
lic Enquiry system on the 8000.
The installation of a new Geac 9000 system
during September 1988 signalled the go-ahead
for
a
significant expansion of the locally written
Public Enquiry system. By the time it came to
be replaced the Geac 8000 was working at full
capacity in terms of available memory, disc
space and ports. The arrival of the 9000 there-
fore meant that not only could extra housekeep-
ing facilities be added,
eg.
Geac's own Acquisi-
tions module, and
the
number of Public Enquiry
terminals in the Library be increased to 25, but
also new services could be offered to the public
generally (see figure
1
overleaf)-
Enhanced Searching Facilities
Although Hull prides itself in being one of the
few libraries to have 100% of its holdings in the
online catalogue, including all periodical vol-
umes,
records and cassettes, microfilms and
microfiche, the single database concept in itself
has created problems. One of the the main prob-
lems,
that of having hundreds of identical en-
tries for periodicals such as the The Economist
(352 volumes) and The Times (852 volumes),
was solved some time ago by "chaining" peri-
odical entries so that the indexes only displayed
one "master" entry for the first volume of each
periodical title with all subsequent volumes, ie.
"slaves"
being linked
to
the master. Other
prob-
lems have recently been solved by creating
separate indexes for different categories of ma-
terial. For example, users who previously had
to scroll through several screens of books called
"Nature..." before they found the entry for Na-
ture the periodical (catalogued under its proper
title Nature: a weekly journal of science), can
now go directly to the periodical by selecting
the option P for Periodical; similarly those look-
ing for a recording of Beethoven's 5th Sym-
phony can specify R for Record Library and
thereafter browse through all the recordings of
Beethoven's works, rather than have to try and
distinguish recordings from scores and critical
works.
An option to search by lecturer's name or de-
partment has also been introduced thereby of-
fering students a short cut to finding all titles
recommended by a particular lecturer. (This
currently applies only to One Week Loans and
material in the Short Loan Collection, although
it is hoped to extend the facility to all titles
included on reading lists when staff resources
permit). Another anomaly in BJL's relatively
advanced early development of the OPAC was
the lack of subject access to catalogue records
(other than by keyword in title). This has again
been redressed since the arrival of the Geac
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