CDS/ISIS Selected as Library Software at University of Mekelle, Ethiopia
24-03-2004 (UNESCO/Antwerp)
Software based on UNESCO's CDS/ISIS standard was chosen to develop the library automation system, at the University of Mekelle, situated in the regional capital of Tigray (northern part of Ethiopia) as it has suitable qualities as a ‘documentary database’ system and strong capabilities also to run as a library system.
As Egbert de Smet of the University of Antwerp, who is project-leader for Library Development at the Mekelle University reports, the University of Mekelle was accepted in 2003 as a ‘partner university’ of the Flemish Interuniversity Council (section Development Co-operation) and a series of projects was identified, amongst them a ‘library development’ project, to run in 2 phases of expectedly 5 years each within an ‘institutional development’ programme.
Based on some quite positive experience in the Sokoine University (Morogoro, Tanzania), it was decided to minimize on expenses for software purchase and instead maximize on training and capacity building in the library.
The ISIS-environment (i.e. the series of software based on the UNESCO CDS/ISIS standard) was chosen to develop the library automation system, as it has suitable qualities as a ‘documentary database’ system and strong capabilities also to run as a library system.
In a slightly longer perspective the use of the WEBLIS software (developed for FAO and also based on UNESCO CDS/ISIS) is put forward, but as a very first step and taking into account the not-yet-final setup of network infrastructure at the university, it was decided to start building the bibliographic catalogue database using old-but-proven technology of CDS/ISIS software in a local network. Since the WEBLIS software has quite advanced support for a.o. data entry (with the use of authority lists taken from ISIS-databases and validations on both field and record level e.g.), the idea was to use the ODIN-interface for ISIS/DOS, as it also allows pick-lists and field/record validations to be applied in the data-entry (in fact this interface ODIN was also used at FAO as a predecessor to the now web-based ASFISIS system, a sister to the main AGRIS-system).
Two library managers from Mekelle (as well as 2 from Morogoro) were invited – in November 2003 - to the University of Antwerp for a 2-weeks intensive training on ISIS-software management in order to allow the software selection to be fully justified and argumented.
A second step followed in January 2004 with the organization of a workshop on-site in Mekelle to introduce the library staff to the first principles of automated cataloguing and the use of CDS/ISIS.
The workshop lasted one week and addressed two main parts: bibliographic principles and ODIN/ISIS ergonomics.
As for the bibliographic principles it became clear that more basic training is needed and will have to be added later on. Dealing with scientific book titles, multiple author names and bibliographic levels (typically for university libraries) is not obvious in an environment of relatively low qualifications (not all library staff have library education qualifications !) and different script (Amharic) and culture. E.g. naming conventions are different in Ethiopia (e.g. often they put a ‘/’ after an initial as an abbreviation of frequent names like G/ means ‘Gebreselassie’, but in Western books it can mean that a second author is listed etc.).
CDS/ISIS was then introduced with a dedicated introduction to its history, technical principles (variable fields, the importance of the Formatting Language…) and practical characteristics (e.g. the self-help and support system based on a very much international users-community).
The ergonomics of the software itself were explained but happily taking profit of the ‘user-friendly’ advantages of the ODIN-interface to avoid direct handling of subfield-identifiers, repeatability separators and so on. Still it was judged to be useful to introduce such basic ideas as repeatable fields and subfields, since these techniques are important in any environment based on CDS/ISIS and, as stated above, technical independency (in the longer run) and the appropriate ‘do-it-yourself’ philosophy are deliberately chosen approaches in this project and therefore necessitate good understanding of the underlying concepts, even if the software will hide most of the practical consequences.
The library is now expected to start building their main catalogue database – in two separate campuses, necessitating some extra management of merging databases with export/import – to minimize delays while waiting for the ICT-infrastructure to be fully updated (including fiber-optic networking !). It is a known fact that the ‘retrospective’ cataloguing can take years of work, and not much can be done to avoid this – e.g. ‘copying’ bibliographic records from others sources such as LC is not always practical (slow connectivity at the moment). End-users OPAC software (IRIS) and ODIN-loans-management, as now being used in Tanzania still within the DOS-environment, will probably be immediately – later this year - replaced by the FAO-WEBLIS-system which has these functions integrated but requiring fully stable network conditions. We hope to be allowed to report positive results in one year from now.
Based on some quite positive experience in the Sokoine University (Morogoro, Tanzania), it was decided to minimize on expenses for software purchase and instead maximize on training and capacity building in the library.
The ISIS-environment (i.e. the series of software based on the UNESCO CDS/ISIS standard) was chosen to develop the library automation system, as it has suitable qualities as a ‘documentary database’ system and strong capabilities also to run as a library system.
In a slightly longer perspective the use of the WEBLIS software (developed for FAO and also based on UNESCO CDS/ISIS) is put forward, but as a very first step and taking into account the not-yet-final setup of network infrastructure at the university, it was decided to start building the bibliographic catalogue database using old-but-proven technology of CDS/ISIS software in a local network. Since the WEBLIS software has quite advanced support for a.o. data entry (with the use of authority lists taken from ISIS-databases and validations on both field and record level e.g.), the idea was to use the ODIN-interface for ISIS/DOS, as it also allows pick-lists and field/record validations to be applied in the data-entry (in fact this interface ODIN was also used at FAO as a predecessor to the now web-based ASFISIS system, a sister to the main AGRIS-system).
Two library managers from Mekelle (as well as 2 from Morogoro) were invited – in November 2003 - to the University of Antwerp for a 2-weeks intensive training on ISIS-software management in order to allow the software selection to be fully justified and argumented.
A second step followed in January 2004 with the organization of a workshop on-site in Mekelle to introduce the library staff to the first principles of automated cataloguing and the use of CDS/ISIS.
The workshop lasted one week and addressed two main parts: bibliographic principles and ODIN/ISIS ergonomics.
As for the bibliographic principles it became clear that more basic training is needed and will have to be added later on. Dealing with scientific book titles, multiple author names and bibliographic levels (typically for university libraries) is not obvious in an environment of relatively low qualifications (not all library staff have library education qualifications !) and different script (Amharic) and culture. E.g. naming conventions are different in Ethiopia (e.g. often they put a ‘/’ after an initial as an abbreviation of frequent names like G/ means ‘Gebreselassie’, but in Western books it can mean that a second author is listed etc.).
CDS/ISIS was then introduced with a dedicated introduction to its history, technical principles (variable fields, the importance of the Formatting Language…) and practical characteristics (e.g. the self-help and support system based on a very much international users-community).
The ergonomics of the software itself were explained but happily taking profit of the ‘user-friendly’ advantages of the ODIN-interface to avoid direct handling of subfield-identifiers, repeatability separators and so on. Still it was judged to be useful to introduce such basic ideas as repeatable fields and subfields, since these techniques are important in any environment based on CDS/ISIS and, as stated above, technical independency (in the longer run) and the appropriate ‘do-it-yourself’ philosophy are deliberately chosen approaches in this project and therefore necessitate good understanding of the underlying concepts, even if the software will hide most of the practical consequences.
The library is now expected to start building their main catalogue database – in two separate campuses, necessitating some extra management of merging databases with export/import – to minimize delays while waiting for the ICT-infrastructure to be fully updated (including fiber-optic networking !). It is a known fact that the ‘retrospective’ cataloguing can take years of work, and not much can be done to avoid this – e.g. ‘copying’ bibliographic records from others sources such as LC is not always practical (slow connectivity at the moment). End-users OPAC software (IRIS) and ODIN-loans-management, as now being used in Tanzania still within the DOS-environment, will probably be immediately – later this year - replaced by the FAO-WEBLIS-system which has these functions integrated but requiring fully stable network conditions. We hope to be allowed to report positive results in one year from now.
Related themes/countries
· 2004
· News archive: 2004
· Libraries: News Archives 2004
· Ethiopia: News Archives 2004
· Information Processing Tools: News Archives 2004
· 2004
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- Egbert de Smet, University of Antwerp, project-leader Library Development Mekelle University
- Davide Storti, UNESCO
- UNESCO/Antwerp University
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