The Library at the Department for International Development has chosen the Unicorn Collection Management System to provide an Integrated Library Management System.
The Unicorn system will be installed under the UNIX operating system on a Hewlett Packard server and will provide access via the WorkFlows Graphical User Interface to Cataloguing, Authority Control, Circulation, and Acquisitions. SmartPORT will be used to capture bibliographic data from Z39.50 sources worldwide. Access to the OPAC will be via WebCat over an internal wide area Intranet to users in East Kilbride, London and overseas.
The library at DFID provides information in support of customers based in the UK and overseas working towards the Department's White Paper aim of "Eliminating world poverty: making globalisation work for the poor". Its Public Enquiry Point staff respond to enquiries from the public about the work of the Department.
Anne Fraser, DFID Librarian, explained that: "Unicorn was chosen as offering a tried and tested solution as well as one which is being developed in new ways to enable customers to access information and services from the desktop".
