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Introduction
Over the past decade computers have come to play such a dominant role in the processing of information that it is unthinkable to imagine any relatively large-scale enterprise being able to function effectively without them. Libraries, the repositories of human knowledge have not proven to be any different in its improved productivity through the use of computer automation.
A computer system, according to Saffady (1982) is composed of three elements:
(1) the hardware or equipment which processes information and performs computational and logical operations;
(2) the data, or information to be processed; and
(3) the software, or programs which cause the hardware to perform specified operations on the data.
Historically, the computer industry distinguished two classes of software:
(1) systems software - those programs which enable a computer to function and control its own operations; and
(2) application software - those programmes which perform some user-specified task.
In a library acquisitions, for example, those programs which perform such tasks, as ordering of materials, receipt/ invoices/credit notes and claim/cancel/ return are considered as application software while the programmes that permit the development and execution of application programmes are termed system software.
Traditionally, most computer manufacturers provide system software for use with their equipment, while the application software has been viewed as the user's responsibility.
Application software
The most important decision that has to be taken in the computerisation of a library (as in any other computerised system) is the application software to use.
Application software is a sequence of instructions that will tell the computer what to do, how to manipulate data and how to relate to users. It normally addresses one aspect of computing need or the other. Most of the "off-the-software" (i.e. the readily available software) for microcomputers is referred to as "application software".
An essential requirement of application software is that it should have capabilities to:
store and manipulate data;
provide the user with capability to create a database;
enable the user to be able to input his or her information into the database created;
edit data thereby, allowing for the immediate correction of entry errors or a correction at a later date.
The choice of application software will obviously depend on your specific operations. I would like to imagine that in...