THE PROSPECTS FOR AN ELECTRONIC OFFICE IN NIGERIAN LIBRARIES
| Date | 01 April 1993 |
| Published date | 01 April 1993 |
| Pages | 25-30 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01435129310038686 |
| Author | Fasola Petunola Abifarin |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
VOLUME 14 NUMBER 4
1993
The
Prospects
for an
Electronic Office
in
Nigerian
Libraries
F.P.
Abifarin
An office has been described by Newman[1]
as "an organizational unit that handles the
information on which the organization
depends". This means that the office is
responsible for receiving, recording,
processing, storing, filing, retrieving and
releasing information to support
organizational functions. These functions
take place in one form or the other in every
office depending on the size of the
organization.
An electronic office is an automated
system designed specifically for these office
tasks.
According to Anderson[2], it is an
administrative system based on computing,
word processing and data transmission
facilities. The integration of these facilities to
form an electronic office results in an
environment in which information is created,
received and transmitted on video screens or
produced, if desired, on paper-based
medium.
The idea of an electronic office was first
mooted in 1947 by Lyons, the British firm of
tea shops which considered the use of
computers for office work. The firm's own
computer system called Lyons Electronic
Office (LEO 1), became operational in 1951.
Since then, the application of computers to
office work has become a reality, resulting in
a number of benefits to the users. These
benefits, according to Cole[3], include:
(1) easier and quicker access to information;
(2) substantial saving on
staff,
overheads,
etc.;
Library Management, Vol. 14 No. 4, 1993, pp. 25-30, © MCB University Press,
0143-5124
(3) speed of obtaining, processing, storing
and retrieving information aids
decision-making;
(4) improved communication between
individual executives and their offices;
(5) Improved productivity in processing
documents, reports and letters.
From the definition earlier provided it can be
deduced that the basic components of an
electronic office are computers (micros, minis
and microframes), wordprocessors (stand-
alone or multi-user systems) and data
transmission facilities (telephones, modems,
data communication terminals). These
devices can be integrated with reference
facilities (databases stored on magnetic
discs),
to form an electronic office as shown
in Figure 1, which can be used to support
office functions.
Publications on the subject have tended to
be biased towards business applications.
Davis[4] and Popyk[5] fall within this
category.
It is only comparatively recently that the
use of the term "office automation" has
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