Using Software-as-a-Service for tracking document delivery (& ILL) requests

Perseus Rex MolinaCataloger LibrarianBr. Fidelis Leddy Learning Resource Center (LRC)De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (Manila)

Jorge Erwin A. RadaPublic Programs Librarian

Janice D.C. PeñaflorCollection Development Librarian

De La Salle University LibrariesDe La Salle University (Manila)

Outline

• Background of the case study• Past problems – What we needed to solve• How we solved it• Results• Issues and Recommendations

Introduction

• Philippine private Catholic university founded in 1911 by the Brothers of Christian Schools

• Libraries caters to an average of over 1,000 teaching academic staff, 16,000 undergraduate students and 4,000 graduate students every term (for 3 terms / year)

• started out as one lowly library in 1956 but is now composed of

–the main library called The Learning Commons–and several satellite libraries

Introduction

What is Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)?

● Part of “cloud computing” concepts● Aka “hosted applications”● software and associated data are centrally hosted on the cloud (over the Internet)

Issues in document delivery (DD) and interlibrary loan (ILL) in DLSU Libraries

• Requests can come from different channels

Piece of paper / Form Email Chat message Web Form

Text message Video Call Twitter message Facebook message

• There has been difficulty obtaining statistics for these services

Piece of paper / Form

Email

Chat message

Web Form

Text message

Video Call

Twitter message

Facebook message

#?

Issues in document delivery (DD) and interlibrary loan (ILL) in DLSU Libraries

• Continuity between reference librarians in different shifts

Issues in document delivery (DD) and interlibrary loan (ILL) in DLSU Libraries

Morning Shift

Afternoon Shift

Evening Shift

7am 8pm

12nn

Requirements for a solution

• Online central recording of all transactions regardless of channel

DATABASE

Piece of paper / Form

Email

Chat message

Web Form

Text message

Video Call

Twitter message

Facebook message

Other Librarians

Requesting users

Reasons why we chose Software-as-a-Service for a solution

• Faster deployment• Simpler and easier than building from scratch• Service continuity

How we solved itiFreeTools Creator• Free plan: unlimited apps, 10 users, 2,500

records

iFreeTools Creator• offers free hosted applications for business

needs• enables one to build custom database apps

without programming skills required• log in using a Google or Yahoo account

How we solved it

iFreeTools Creator● Built over Google App Engine

● What is Google App Engine?● lets you run web applications on Google's

infrastructure● no servers to maintain● supports apps written in several programming

languages (Java, Python, or Go runtime environments)

● All applications can use up to 1 GB of storage and enough CPU and bandwidth to support an efficient app serving around 5 million page views a month, absolutely free

How we solved it

How we solved it

DD/ILL Request

Reference # Date requested

Type of Request

Source of Request

Name of Requestor

Dept. ….

Record 1

Record 2

Record 3

Record 4

Record 5

…

Entity

Attrib

utes

How we solved itTIMELINE

• Data model• Configuration

JAN 2013

Tracking system

went live

FEB 2013 End of beta

testing

Upgrade to paid version

AUG 2013

Public form introduced

External requesting libraries must use online form

SEP 2013

• toggle visible columns, instant search, sorting, filtering

How we solved it

● Instant view: clicking on a row will show full details of the record at bottom of the page.

How we solved it

● Actions● View Details● Edit Details● Delete● Duplicate

How we solved it

ILL/DD Tracking System

iFreeTools Creator

iFreeTools Creator

Results

“The Libraries’ forays into utilizing Software-as-a-

Service applications have been successful so

far, and not only are SaaS applications faster to deploy, but they free

the Libraries from installation, maintenance

and hardware requirements a typical

software for team collaboration may

demand.”

Original

OriginalOriginalN

ew o

nes

Issues and Recommendations

● For SaaS providers● offer long/unlimited free trial that is as

much as possible is close to the paid version

● For libraries● make sure your data can be exported from

system, then backup regularly!● do a cost-benefit analysis

The DLSU Libraries’ Document Delivery/Interlibrary Loan Requests Tracking System is a product of its

librarians’ attitude of making the most out of available resources.

It proves that any library can adapt and get behind utilizing cloud solutions despite

technological or budget obstacles.

Conclusion

Thank you!