M KOTESWARA RAO mkrlib at uohyd.ernet.in Mon Aug 20 19:28:10 IST 2012 In my opinion all the old manual charging systems were excellent. Because of library automation these methods have been discarded and replaced with barcode /RFID system for simplicity, ease of operation and better control and reporting. However, maintaining circulation records in ELECTRONIC ONLY form is always dangerous since there is no manual record to verify in case of hard disk /system crash. This has happened in one of the top academic library in the country where thousands of books issued were lost and could not be called-back?. It is always advisable to have a manual record in addition to the electronic one, because our library users can deny if we cannot show the proof of borrowing. We may discard the physical card catalogue cabinet but you need to think twice before you eliminate the book card/member record in a fully automated library. Dr. M. Koteswara Rao Retd. Librarian, Univ of Hyderabad On 20-08-12, Tariq Ahmad Shah wrote:
Dear Sir In the June 2012, edition of UGC Net one of the questions was related to the Browne Charging System (Paper III, Q. 49), wherein it was asserted and even validated by the UGC furnished key that Browne Charging System is simple and less time consuming. If it would had been simple and time efficient why there was need to develop other manual methods - Ranganathan ticket system, Newark and Detroit methods etc. Besides, how could we justify the statement when these manual methods are not in vogue and are replaced by library automation packages? Even we are witnessing the phasing out of Barcode circulation with RFID enabled circulation. Your kind advice/comments is/are requested in this matter
With Regards Tariq Ahmad Shah Research Scholar DLIS, University of Kashmir