Using Software-as-a-Service for tracking
document delivery (& ILL) requests
Perseus Rex Molina
Cataloger Librarian
Br. Fidelis Leddy Learning
Resource Center (LRC)
De La Salle-College of Saint
Benilde (Manila)
Jorge Erwin A. Rada
Public Programs
Librarian
Janice D.C. Peñaflor
Collection Development
Librarian
De La Salle University Libraries
De 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)
Introduction
• started out as one lowly library in 1956 but is
now composed of
–the main library called The Learning Commons
–and several satellite libraries
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
Issues in document delivery (DD) and
interlibrary loan (ILL) in DLSU Libraries
• 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
Afternoon Shift
Morning Shift
Evening Shift
Requirements for a solution
• Online central recording of all transactions
regardless of channel
DATABASE
Other Librarians
Requesting users
Reasons why we chose Software-as-aService for a solution
• Faster deployment
• Simpler and easier than building from scratch
• Service continuity
How we solved it
iFreeTools Creator
• Free plan: unlimited apps, 10 users, 2,500 records
How we solved it
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
DD/ILL Request
Reference #
Record 1
Record 2
Record 3
Record 4
Record 5
…
Date
requested
Type of
Request
Source of
Request
Name of
Requestor
Dept.
….
How we solved it
TIMELINE
JAN
2013
• Data model
• Configuration
FEB
2013
SEP
2013
Tracking
system
went live
External
requesting
libraries must
use online form
AUG
2013
End of beta
testing
Upgrade to paid
version
How we solved it
• 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
ILL/DD Tracking System
iFreeTools Creator
iFreeTools Creator
Results
“The Libraries’ forays into
utilizing Software-as-aService 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.”
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
Conclusion
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.
Thank you!