Technical Processing of Documents through SOUL 2.0: An Analytical Study of BHU Library System

Abstract

A library of any type or size implies the close collaboration of the documents, the users and the library personnel. Library personnel play intermediary role in between the user and his or her document of interest. The services provided by library staff comprise a series of jobs mainly acquiring, preparing and preserving the documents which is also known as housekeeping operations. These activities are highly cumbersome, fatigue and labour intensive, basically routine clerical works performed slowly and expensively by human beings. So why, it is needed to automate and mechanize the system of document processing in such a way to get more error free and fast services. With the advent of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), libraries are increasingly attempting to automate some of these activities for minimizing human clerical routines and thereby making library staff more productive and enabling them to provide fast and comprehensive information through services. Academic libraries are an important component of the modern institutions for the management of knowledge for further research and development. Banaras Hindu University Library System is the biggest university library system in India which has adopted SOUL 2.0 software for the automation of the holdings of central library and 35 departmental libraries. The main aim of this paper is to describe features of the catalogue module of the SOUL software and analysis of the features, limitations, and requirements for the technical processing of documents through SOUL software in BHU Library System.