CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Problem

Nowadays as technology continues to advance, computers are becoming essential to
people. Today, technologies have become widespread that even simple tasks are resorted to be
done with the aid of these powerful scientific inventions. The contribution of computers in the
business fields has been undeniably strong and effective. To perform a complex and tedious work
in a very effective manner could be attributed to a computer because of its usefulness like
storing, retrieving, and clever of processing information. Without us noticing it, our world has
been innovated by technology in all possible ways this millennium. Computers have been used
by different institutions to improve their services like Library in every school. In terms of
accessibility and convenience, computerized system has been proven to be of great help to
students, teachers and even parents.
An Information System (IS) is any combination of information technology and peoples
activities using technology to support operations, management and decision-making. In a very
broad sense, the term information system is used to refer not only to the information and
communication technology (ICT) that an organization uses, but also to the way in which people
interact with this technology in support of business processes. Information systems help to
control the performance of business processes. An information system is a work system whose
activities are devoted to processing (capturing, transmitting, storing, retrieving, manipulating and
displaying) information. A work system is a system in which humans and/or machines perform
work using resources to produce specific products and/or services for customers.

Transaction Processing System (TPS) automate the handling of data about business
activities or transactions, which can be thought of as simple, discrete events in life of an
organization. The analysis and design of TPS means focusing on the firms current procedures for
processing transactions, whether those procedures are manually or automated. The focus on
current procedures implies a careful tracking data capture, flow, processing and output. The goal
of TPS development is to improve transaction processing by speeding it up, using fewer people,
improving efficiency and accuracy, integrating it with other organizational information systems
or providing information not previously available. A school is one of the institutions in which
TPS applied. One example of it is a Library System. A Library System is a system that manages
library-related transactions such as accessioning, circulation, cataloguing, and tracking
inventories of books. It also does the generation of reports such as accessioned books, list of
borrowers, list of unreturned books, and list of penalties.
A library is a place in which literary and artistic materials such as books, periodicals,
newspapers, pamphlets, prints, records, CDs, video tapes, DVDs, audio books, e-books and
other formats are kept for reading, reference or lending. A collection of materials, when
systematically arranged. At first glance, the library is a bunch of books with a librarian to check
them out through the borrower, and back in when return it. The librarian insures (of tries to, as
money permits) the library is well stocked with current titles. The librarian also has to keep the
building neat and in good repair and also these things only shows a few of the things which make
up the library. Librarians typically perform activities associated with transaction processing,
borrowing and returning of books, recording of newly acquired books, preparation of card
catalog, generating catalog cards and maintaining data, which involves adding new data,
changing existing data, or removing unwanted data, reservation of books and printing of reports.

Traditionally, library systems are implemented manually. Librarian use pens in recording
newly acquired books, in generating reports, in card cataloging and also in terms of book
circulation. Afterwards, the librarian compiles and store files on large file cabinet. Indeed, the
manual library system is demanding task for a librarian.
The fast phasing of technology attributed a lot to the improvement of the manual library
system. Technology enables software developers to computerize the library system. The
automated library system can be a great help for any school.
LUCI committed to the task of bringing about a transformative education into the
community it serves, is an institution dedicated to Academic Excellence, Discipline, Values
Formation, and Service to the Community. No wonder LUCI ranks among the best schools in the
Region. From its high calibre faculty to its high achieving students, from its distinguished
records,
Alumni and countless contributions to the community. With its 80 years of existence, it
has proven Track Record of being the training ground to many successful professionals,
entrepreneurs and socially responsible leaders of our society. It also takes pride for uplifting the
lives of many less-fortunate people in our community through its scholarship programs. To
appreciate better, the role La Union Cultural Institute plays as an educational institution, let us
trace the roots and have a glance at the manifold and significant changes that have shaped La
Union Cultural Institute to what it is today.
The school was established in September 18,1931 a day before the 918 (Sept. 18, 1931)
incident in China, when the Japanese imperial army invaded the northern part of China. In the
beginning there were only more than ten pupils.

The original founders were the following: Mr. So Quiong (New Peoples Lumber), Mr.
Dy Leon Yok (New Life Trading), Mr. Chan LinMo (Luzon Trading), Mr. Chan Lintiao
(Businessman), Mr. Chan LeonCio (Father of Engr.Mariano Chan). They made use of the
Bodega of Mr. Chan SuiHio as temporary classroom and hired Mr. Yu BonGui as
Teacher/Principal.
In 1940, the student population had increased tremendously, the group thought of
organizing the Board of Trustees, Electing Mr. Chan LinYok as the first Chairman of the Board
of Trustees with Mr.So Quing, Mr. Dy TiongSan, Mr. Ting YekSiong (allias Dy KehHio), Gen.
Dy PiakChay, Mr. Lim SiuYok (Antonio Lim) as members. A few months later Principal Yu
resigned for good the school then engaged the services of Mr. Chan KokChing as principal, with
him as principal (Mr. Chan KokChing) the school was able to acquire a house and lot (now
owned by the Alfonso Lim Family) as our school building and Basketball court at the back. The
students had increased to more than 30.
1941 during the Japanese occupation the school stopped operation. Principal Chan
KokChing resigned and went back to Manila to join the Filipino Chinese Guerilla Movement
(Hiat Kan Tuan) and became a hero.
1945 after the war, our school was lucky for not being destroyed be the Japanese
bombardment of San Fernando, we were one of the few building structure left. Director Dy
TiongSan then initiated the revival of our school and hired the services of Mr. The Hualian as
principal (noe the Editor n Chief of the United Daily News in Manila).
Vision:

We envision La Union Cultural Institute as an educational institution dedicated

to excellence in basic education with focus on global business competitiveness, values
formation primarily through the integration of Confucian principles, and highest
standard in Math, Science and English.

Mission:
LUCI offers high quality education with a solid grounding in Math, Science and
English along with sound academic and professional training in business and economics.
LUCI expects its graduates to be competent professionals who can be gainfully
employed in business, government, education and cultural research, as well as informed
citizens. Globally, they can compete in the job market because of their professional skills
and their proficiency in English.
I.1 Statement of the Problem
I.1.1

General Problem
How to design, develop and implement a LUCI Computerized
Library System?

I.1.2

Specific Problem
Specifically the study aims to answer the following problems.
1.1.2.1 How to develop a system that will easily to manage and
simplify accessioning of books?

In accessioning of books the librarian manually store all the

needed information of the book like the accession number, classification,
author, book title, edition, volume, no. of pages, source of fund, price,
publisher, year, date received and remarks in the accession log book record.
Some books have several copies that the librarian needs to record
this repeatedly which results to repetition of task for the librarian personnel
and it involves a lot of time and effort considering that there are many copies
of books.

1.1.2.2

How to develop a system that will create catalog cards

automatically?
The DDC or the Dewey Decimal Classification System and

Cutters Table are used in preparing catalog cards in the library. The
librarian prepares three catalog cards for every accessioned book
namely: the author card, title card and subject card.
These three catalog card contains the same information like the
name of the author, title of the book, classification if it is classify as
Filipiniana or Foreign book, subject, number of pages, publisher etc.,
but in different formats.
In author card, the name of the author is commonly found at the
top of every card catalog entry. If there is no specific or exact author for
the book, the name of the company or organization that produced the
title is considered listed. Also the librarian prepares separate author card
if the book have multiple authors. And for the title card, title will be the

second entry on each card and it appears first when the card is part of
an index of titles.
For the subject card, catalog cards arranged by subject will have
the main subject of the book listed at the top of the card.
The manual process for preparing catalog cards is a slow process
and consumes a lot of time for the librarian knowing to the fact that the
librarian needs technical reading to the different book references to get
the DDC, authors code and subject heading of the book.
1.1.2.3

How to develop a system that will easily to check and trace

availability of books?
In checking availability of books, some borrowers as well as

the librarian has to check first the availability of books by looking at the
bookshelves or refer to the card catalog to trace if the book is available to
borrow, if the borrower choose to see and refer to the catalog card he/she will
go to the librarian if the book is available for lending and to determine the
book location. Manually searching of books takes time just to identify if the
book is existing or non-existing.
Additionally some books do not have book cards to check if the
book was not in the shelves and to know who borrows it, she has to look for
the record book if somebody borrowed the books. Second, if no one borrows
the book the librarian will look for the availability of the book and the status
whether it is in good condition, new, damage, lost/missing, unreturned, or
being reserved in reserved area.
1.1.2.4 How to develop a system that will regulate library policies and
procedures relative to book circulation?

LUCI library is open from Monday to Friday from 8:00 am to

4:00 pm for all LUCI students and personnel including guests outside.
The policy inside the library, a student borrower can borrow a
maximum of two books or one book in the library from as early as
4:00 in the afternoon as long as the book is available likewise for
books for take home use and should be returned at 8:00 am to 9:00 am
at the next day. Faculties of the school may borrow ten different titles
of books and can be return within the entire school year. Guest can use
and borrow books only inside the library. In most cases when a student
borrower did not return the book(s) on its time, the librarian has to
compute for the overdue books using manual tradition and so
computation of fines or penalties is time consuming. Fines are
imposed accordingly to borrowers who do not comply with the policy.
Problem encounters during monitoring for delinquent
borrowers as well as monitoring for unreturned books. The librarian
cannot easily detect delinquent borrowers for unreturned materials
because the librarian is a class teacher in charge for the students and
she cannot keep monitoring it daily.
1.1.2.5 How to develop a system that will speed up the computations of
fines?
For the computation of fines, the librarian uses calculator to
compute penalties for overdue books. Computation for this penalty
takes a lot of time and confusing on the part of the librarian especially
if there are multiple overdue dates. The computation of penalty
depends on the number of days the book was returned from its due

date. Holidays and weekends like Saturday and Sunday are not
included in the number of days. Overdue books cost P5.00/day/book.
1.1.2.6 How to develop a system that automatically generates reports?
Currently the librarian performs physical book inventories
and prepares accession and or subject course reports by encoding it
using the MS-Word application. Subject course reports consist of call
number, item description, accession number and quantity. There are
times the School Principal and administrator wants to see book reports
and urgently requested this reports for reference purposes. Due to the
manual preparation of reports the librarian cannot provide this
immediately.
1.1.2.7

How to develop a system that will implement security of

necessary files in a computer?
LUCI uses filing cabinet and shelve to store important files
or data in their library. If files are kept in a filing cabinet and shelve,
they are prone to loss or sometimes documents can be possibly mixed
up with each other which result to unorganized management of
records. Moreover access of unauthorized persons can be happen
because filing cabinet and shelve do not have proper locked for
security.

1.2

Current State of the Technology

Up to now, LUCI is implementing the manual library system, which is task

manned by hand and not by electronic device or computer even though they have a
computer device units that the local/municipal government provided this for them but
they use it only for printing purposes for preparing reports. Using manual library system,
the librarian has to do all the work by listing the entire inventory of the books. A lot of
errors during manual procedures were observed. Problems like book circulation policy
are not implemented properly. Important or necessary information of certain books in the
accession log book records is missing. Card catalog does not totally accurate to prepare.
LUCI library is such a chaos due to inefficiency of their assigned librarian as stated in the
above mention she cannot accommodate all the library responsibility because she is also
a teacher in-charge for the students. It is a burden from her to arrange either re-arrange
more than 10,000 collections of books inside.
In accessioning of newly acquired books, the assigned librarian needs to write
all of the necessary or sequence information about the book like number of copies, date
received, class, author, title of the book, edition, volumes, pages, source of fund, cost
price, publisher, year and remarks in the accession log book record. The process of
accessioning is done manually which consumes time and effort considering the numbers
of books that needs to be accessioned.
In cataloging the assigned librarian is using handwritten, typewriter or
computer for preparing the catalog card. Writing or typing the catalog card takes a lot of
time. The librarian must prepare three types of catalog cards for every accessioned book
specifically: the author card, the title card and the subject card. These 3 catalog cards
contain the same information like name of the author, title of the book, classification if it

is Filipiniana or Foreign book, subject, number of pages, publisher etc., but in different
formats. The assigned librarian needs technical reading of different books to identify the
needed information to be written in a card catalog. This process is time consuming on the
part of the librarian particularly when there are numerous or various copies of books.
To borrow books inside the library the borrower needs to register first his/her
name from the librarian together with his/her school ID to be presented. The school
library do not have their own library cards that supposed to be needed to issue for their
borrowers in times they want to borrow a particular book because of lack of time needed
to make and print out those library cards. In this case the librarian spending much of time
for searching the availability of books in the library because some of their books do not
have book cards and she has to do browse the shelves whether the book is available or
not or checking the catalogs for the existence of the book.
The student can borrow only 2 different titles of books each day but as for the
library policy for borrowing of books they are not allowed to borrow with the same title if
the book is only one. If the student borrower reached the maximum number of books to
be borrowed he/she will not allowed to borrow another book except for those students
who have their joining contest or other school related activities and book(s) will be
needed for their review as their source if needed as for the library policy of the school
still exists or if it is overdue unless it will be returned. The student borrower can also
borrow periodical materials such as newspapers, bound magazines etc.
Faculty members and staff of the school are allowed to borrow 10 different
titles of the books and can be return within the school year. When it comes to guest
borrowers for borrowing a particular book, the school do not allow the guest borrowers to

borrow a book and bring it home and they will only borrow and use the book inside of the
library.
The school library did not implement book reservation inside but as for the
benefits of the institution the researchers as well as the proponents wants to give
additional solutions regarding problems on their circulations around the library from
borrowing, reserving, returning and renewing the library materials especially for the
books that been rented or borrowed.
In book circulation the borrower has a due to return the book that he/she
borrowed. Upon presenting the book the librarian will sign-off to the card or record this
to their record book proving that the borrower returned the book on its due date. There
are times that the library personnel cannot identify the borrower of a particular book or if
the book is available to be borrow or not. The library has rules and regulation that if the
student borrower fails to comply with the regulation, he/she will be penalized monetarily.
The computation of penalty depends on the number of days the book was
returned from its due date and the librarian uses a calculator for doing this method.
Holidays and weekends like Saturday and Sunday are not included in the number of days.
Overdue books are charged P5.00 per day per book after the due date.
In generating of reports, the assigned librarian needed to prepare reports by
using MS-word application to encode those reports. Accession and or subject course
reports consist of call number, item, description, accession number and quantity. There
are times the School Principal and administrator wants to see book reports and urgently

requested this reports for reference purposes. Due to the manual preparation of reports the
librarian cannot provide this immediately.
Obtainable support and to do some specific tasks in the library is time
consuming. If the tasks are computerized, the execution time of doing processes is
shortened as compared to manual. Precision can always be attained using a computerized
library system. Then proponents has proposed a solution on how totally lessen if not
totally eliminate the burden of library transaction for both librarian and students. The
proponents have proposed a Computerized Library System of Eulogio Clarence De
Guzman Junior Memorial National Vocational School for Elementary and High School
Department. The proponents will focus and consider on three points of view models:
conceptual, organizational and technological. The researchers believe that a project
management approach should be implemented within the Computerized Library System
and development functions in order to adapt to the changes in the work processes of the
study. With the implementation of adding, modifying, searching, generating and printing
of records around the system or in terms of creating, reading, updating and deleting
(CRUD techniques) it will reduce the time and effort of the users to manage their work
transactions inside the library as stated in the introduction of the study the primary
needed for this is to build the proper flow of the project scope for them to use it properly.
Currently they are using Filing Cabinet System as the primary system
around the library in accessioning books and the traditional card catalogue in searching
books. All the records are being kept in the filing cabinet, but it is not safe and good at all
because anybody can see it and it is exposed, no locked for proper security of library
files.