L 674
Public Access System Design
(3 credits, MLS & MIS elective), pre-requisite Data structures and
object-oriented design for bibliographic information ( L 673) or the
consent of the instructor [Thom Gillespie]
(New course)
Contents
Purpose and Rationale:
This is the third course in bibliographic system design. This course
brings students to grips with solving a real information system design
project. Working as a group the class/team identifies a significant
information design project such as an acquisition, serials control,
cataloging or circulation system for an on-line public access catalog and
then designs, implements, tests, and publicly presents the system.
The purpose of this course is to involve the students in the actual
design and implementation of the concepts of a library automation system
which are unique to bibliographic systems. This course is not a
definitive presentation of all the details of designing an automated
system, but it is intended to stress the concepts and the general
approach of library automation design. The focus is on objects, methods
and file organization in terms of bibliographic information. The emphasis
is on a single user system.
There are two possible approaches to building a system. One is to use a
database management system (DBMS) to do all the file related operations.
The second approach is to do the file management without a DBMS. We take
the second approach because it is more instructive. A major purpose of
this course is to show students how to build a system, and not
necessarily produce a system that a naive user would use safely without
destroying the system's files. The entire system will be inspectable and
the student will see and be able to examine the contents of files that
end-user normally never know exists. The purpose of the system and this
course is to allow the students manipulate what actually happens in a
library automation system.
Course Description:
The course is divided into 2 sections. During the first part of the
course there are extensive readings in terms of library automation
systems and object oriented information systems. The segway between the
first and second section of this course is provided by readings from an
actual request for proposals (rfp) for the design of a library automation
system such as The Quest for the Son of Deep Thought, the rfp from the
Kitsap Regional Library in Bremerton, Washington, for the design of a
replacement system for their current on-line public access catalog.
Working from the Kitsap proposal the students will decide which module
they are interested in programming and work as teams to design a
working module for demonstration by the end of the term.
Course Objectives:
The main objective is to develop a working groups which can successfully
identify and solve a system design problem cooperatively.
In order to accomplish this main objective the following sub-objectives
must be meet:
- The development of functional system specification/ working prototype.
- Interface design
- Systems administration
- Documentation
- Debugging and testing
- Public presentation
Course Requirements and Evaluation:
Will be based upon class participation, written reports, group
programming assignments, and public demonstration.
Key Readings
Key Software:
Operating systems Programming languages
UNIX C++ (UNIX)
Mac System 7 Symantec C++ (MAC)