First Professional Library & Resource Management Solution that Support the Amharic Unicode.

Contec Group International Ltd. is a software development company based in Christchurch, New Zealand and operating internationally. The company operates two separate divisions, one associated with Library and Information Management and the other the Dairy Industry.  Contec has over 20 years experience in the implementation and support of computer systems in public, education, corporate and other libraries.  In 1985, after success with an earlier system, the company developed its CataList library system which has been installed in many sites, including schools, public and polytechnic libraries.

The need to offer a modern, Windows-based simple-to-use but feature-rich library and resource management system that could replace our CataList product while remaining in a cost bracket that smaller organisations could afford, as well as being configurable for large libraries, became apparent some two years ago – and thus the .eLM concept was born.

A key word in the .eLM development strategy was flexibility. Given the power of the JADE Development Environment, Contec can make .eLM  do just about anything in the world of information management.  The idea was to create a suite of programs that facilitates all library and resource management for today’s busy resource centres.  It was imperative that the new system handled all library operations efficiently and effectively, but the development team recognised that staff with library responsibilities often had other resource management tasks given to them. Thus a system that also handles the management of sports equipment, science kits, musical instruments, furniture, conference rooms, projectors and any other resources that can be loaned out for a short period of time would be of great utility to busy people.

In analysing the available development environments that could be used for the new product, it was decided that an integrated database with thin client facility would provide an ideal vehicle for an easy-to-install easy-to-maintain system; this would mean that no other third party software such as a Database Management System or remote client product would need to be purchased by the end user. The JADE development environment, a product of Jade Software Corporation, is produced in Christchurch New Zealand and sold world wide. It is now taught in many universities and polytechnics in several countries including the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and the USA. It was developed by the same company that produced the (Unisys) LINC product

Another key design principle behind .eLM was that the customer interface should provide simple access for all staff—including those that have no interest, or lack confidence, in the use of computer based solutions.
A good example of a user-friendly design feature we wanted to see was having all circulation functionality on one screen.   .eLM offers all circulation functions from one screen – click and you’re doing an issue, click and you’re in reserves, click and you’re entering returns, click and you’re changing borrower details. That means the circulation staff personnel have no menu hunting to do – the screen has all functions and knows what you want to do by your selection.

With the release of its .eLM Library and Resource Management System, Contec has developed a product that is totally web-enabled within itself. By this we mean that when you purchase the product you get a system that requires no other software to operate, (apart from the Windows Operating System) even if you have remote branches with only low-speed communications, or you want to offer a Web OPAC. If you are a group of say three schools and don’t have the money for each school to have its own separate computer equipment, you can have just one server at one location and then the workstations for all three schools can connect to it and run library operations as if they had their own on-site server- and keep their data separate if required - via ordinary telephone lines, low speed leased lines or the Internet.  Local printers, including slip printers, are also supported. We believe this “Thin Client” feature alone is a major cost saver for colleges, universities and  school consortia, libraries with outlying branches, and countrywide corporates.

The Web OPAC allows your pupils and teachers to search the catalogue from their homes, if they have an Internet connection, and locate articles or books that may be pertinent to class activities or projects.

The system developers were aware that many small libraries and corporate information centres have no staff with LIS qualifications, a state of affairs that poses problems when it comes to cataloguing new materials.  It is sometimes difficult for non-qualified staff to cope with authority records, so Contec’s developers wanted to make it easy for them to recognise existing authority records.  When you are cataloguing with .eLM, you only need to enter a few characters of an Author’s surname, and all authoritative terms that start with those characters will appear instantly – simply select the one you want and .eLM finishes the entry for you. If the name you want is not there, click ‘Add new authority’; if you have the security rights you can enter the new name.

Managers, including librarians, often want to book a resource for a class or meeting on a given day, yet in most organisations it is impossible to be sure that the resource you need will be in the right place at the right time when you need it. A “Booking” functionality is planned for .eLM so that resources can be booked for precisely when and for as long as they are needed. 

Once they started working on the resource management functionality, the development team also learned that school managers have a particular wish to keep parents informed of their children’s use of school resources.  One very important reason for this is that parents pay the bill when resources are lost.  The flexibility of the system meant that it was possible to include a feature that allows parents log in via the Internet to see what resources have been allocated to their child so that they can keep an eye on where exactly that textbook or loaned cricket bat is! If managers need to list the value of different resources on asset registers, then it can be done in .eLM in a single report.

Librarians and other resource managers often have information in their resource database that is confidential  .eLM has been designed so that the field level security feature makes sure that only the information you want to make available to a set of users is shown. Your secured information is safely stored in the database—but only visible to those people who have sufficient clearance to view that information. Resource items can only be issued by authorised staff.

.eLM offers comprehensive Acquisitions and Serials functionality, with streamlined workflow and logical setup and control of all aspects of these important modules.

.eLM is a multi-lingual library and resource management system. The system now fully supports the Amharic Unicode. Translations of the menu in Amharic is also available. Complete cataloguing, search and all other features of .eLM  are supported in Amharic making .eLM the first professional library and resource management system supporting the AmharicUnicode in Ethiopia.

To conclude, here’s a handy piece of information that may help you when running your .eLM system:

Did you know that you can configure your own “view” of the fields that appear in the OPAC or Enquiries Search Results screens? Let’s say you want to see the Classification field data as well as Author and Subject – simply edit the View setup for that screen and you can show whatever fields you like – if you need help to do this or any other task within the system, please contact MKTY, the authorised distributor and support centre for .eLM in Ethiopia.