The Libraries Launch Online Catalog
The Hesburgh Libraries at Notre Dame has a long history of automation. The 1964 annual report of the library director notes an attempt in 1963 to computerize activities in the circulation department of the new Memorial Library (now Hesburgh Library). By 1980 the Libraries had installed terminals for cataloging records, which were also used to provide reference service. By 1981, the Libraries had subscribed to numerous online dial-up databases that reference librarians could use to provide patrons with bibliographic information vastly faster than using printed indexes.
By the early 1980s it was apparent that large-scale automation would be necessary to keep the library functioning as its collections grew ever larger. A home-grown acquisitions system called ACQUIS had been implemented in 1978, but it was not integrated with any other systems in use in the Libraries, resulting in inefficient work flows and much manual processing. The Library administration knew that an integrated library system (ILS) lay in the future, so starting in 1976 all new cataloging records were in machine-readable format and the process of converting the existing 650,000 paper catalog records began.
In 1982 the Libraries hired an assistant director for automation who would oversee the process of selecting and implementing the new integrated system. After extensive investigation, an IBM 4381 mainframe computer was purchased to run the NOTIS ILS, a system that had been developed at Northwestern University for its library.
There was much work to do before January of 1985 when the system was slated to be in full production. Over two miles of cable needed to be run across campus and 128 terminals had to be installed in Memorial Library, branch libraries and other locations on campus. The mainframe had to be set up and the software installed. Catalog records had to be loaded into the system and everything tested. Instructional materials had to be prepared to train both employees and the public in the use of the system. A campus-wide contest was held to select a name for the online catalog, which would be known as UNLOC – University of Notre Dame Libraries' Online Catalog.
After some delays UNLOC went live in August 1987, and it would be the most noticeable benefit of the NOTIS system to the Libraries' patrons. No longer was it necessary to go to the card catalog to locate an item. Using a terminal, a patron could find catalog records and locations for any item in any place. It wasn't even necessary to come to the library – patrons could use their own computer with a modem to dial in to the system from their dorm room or home.
UNLOC provided the same author, title and subject searching that the card catalog did, but it added powerful new features. Keyword searching allowed the user to search on combinations of words from title and subject, and Boolean searching made it possible to refine a search to get more precise results. The addition of printers meant that one could print lists of items to find on the shelf rather than tediously writing the information by hand. Implementation of the circulation module in 1989 added the ability to see whether a book was checked out before going to the shelf to look for it.
Before the circulation module could be used, the entire circulating collection of the Libraries had to have barcode labels attached. The effort was referred to as the Great Notre Dame Barcoding Project, which took place during a two-week period spanning the months of July and August of 1988. Forty two-person teams located books and applied the labels, with each team applying as many as 298 labels per hour. The project was completed four days ahead of schedule and had applied nearly 600,000 labels in Hesburgh Library and the branches. In addition to barcoding books, it was at this time that barcodes appeared on employee and student ID cards. Use of barcodes would greatly speed circulation transactions. Instead of typing in call numbers and ID numbers, staff could check out books with the swipe of a light pen.
Implementing UNLOC took several years of planning and hard work, at a cost of $1.7 million, mostly funded from a 1983 grant by John T. Ryan, Jr., a Notre Dame trustee emeritus. The NOTIS system was a necessary and much needed step in the evolution of the Hesburgh Libraries' automated systems, but as with any technology, its lifespan was limited. By 1999 the hardware had reached the end of its usable life and with the advent of the World Wide Web, more modern systems would take NOTIS's place. Having been replaced by the Libraries' ALEPH Web catalog, UNLOC was shut down in May 1999 after 12 years of service.
