Librarianship
Disaster! We're part of a regional consortium that shares a computer up in Amarillo for cataloging and circulation functions. Two days ago the computer went down. Inconvenient but not catastrophic. This morning, however, we received a call from consortial headquarters saying that all the data has been corrupted and that the latest available backup data was from April 4! So four months of circulation statistics have vanished; four months of cataloging is down the drain; students who returned books at the end of the spring semester will now be listed as having items overdue; etc.
posted by Carlos @ 1:34 PM
3 Comments:
So, um, who was supposed to be backing up this data on a regular basis for the past few months? Isn't that a pretty standard practice for any system that stores data?
Felix
Sure seems like gross negligence to me. Someone's head should roll, but I doubt it will.
Actually, I shouldn't sound so snotty. Suburban Public Library had a similar meltdown when they switched over to a new automation system (iBistro) earlier this summer. Several weeks worth of circulation info. went into limbo, with the result that we now have dozens or hundreds of items that are "supposed" to be in the library, but are actually "checked out" to persons unknown, with no record of their fate. We hope they'll bring them back. Eventually.
I note that you'all's catalog interface looks a lot like ours. Hmmmm. Those who are considering new library automation systems may want to take heed.
Felix
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