Inforonics has developed a procedure that integrates MARC records from the Boston Public Library's Technical Services Department cataloging system with its circulation system. Library staff no longer have to type in circulation records; relevant data is extracted from existing cataloging records. The new procedure saves the time and cost of entering records into both systems, and illustrates how local circulation systems can be linked with regional networks.
The project involved integrating software of the Library's regional cataloging system which runs on a DEC system-10 and its circulation system which operates on an IBM system.
This link between the circulation and cataloging systems can be seen as the first step in implementing a network module which distributes MARC-derived records in local circulation systems via magnetic tape. The next step will be direct transmission of records from the regional host computer by telecommunications to local circulation systems.
[Contact: Inforonics, Inc., 550 Newtown Road, Littleton, MA 01460.]
