What is Library Management System?

It is a easy-to-use program for managing a library, whether it by one’s personal library or that of a non-profit or church. It runs on any version of Windows 3.1 or above and on any computer 386 or above, which makes it perfect for churches and non-profits where they may not have the leading-edge computer donated to them.

There are over a dozen churches and non-profits in the Western Washington using the program. It has spread from church to church strictly by word-of-mouth. They differ significantly in how they use it. Some have a librarian handle everything. Others let patrons do their own checking in and out. Some have a single computer. Others have it on a network with many terminals. But the program fits all their needs.

The program manages four things:

It stores the name and address for the person. It also allows printing of “library cards” and “authorization” so for example you can note if the patron is a child, and if so, if the patron needs parental permission.

But it also does reporting and searches on the person. You can find people by if they have book checked out, if they have overdue books, or if they have library book fines due. Each person has a “card number”. But if they forget their number, any place where a card number is needed, it allows the user to easily find their card number using their name.

It stores twenty different pieces of information for each book, most of which are optional, but allow the library to be organized based on the needs of the librarian. Four of these fields are meant strictly for customization. One library needed “replacement value” for each book. Another wanted who donated the book. It is easily to customize field names.

One the books are entered, then the program really shines. You can print the spine labels and the inside-cover labels. You can search for books by any criteria you can imagines -- author, LOC number, Cutter number etc, and also by books out, overdue, “newly entered” books, books on hold, etc. The “research mode” in itself is a valuable product, allowing you to make your library as searchable as an county library. And of course any reports generated can be easily printed or exported into any product.

This is always made as easy as possible. For checkout, you give the card number (with option to find it). Then you type in the book numbers (which are automatically generated for each book, and printed on the spine labels). It tells you the book name so you can double-check, and will stop you from check-in out books already out to someone else, but also gives an option to put a “hold” on books which are out, so once it is returned, the librarian is told who is next in line for the book. And of course it support renewing books for another check-out period.

For check-in, it supports two different ways. One way is to type in a person’s card #, and it lists the books they have out. Then you can check to make sure those are the books being returned, and remove the ones which are not. The other is just to type in books number of returned books, and it will check them in (after displaying the title to allow double-checking.)