‘Does it matter if the users are actually dead?’ A database to re-connect with the borrowers and collection of a hundred year old library
VALA 2006 CONCURRENT SESSION 11: Information Management and Knowledge Sharing
Friday 10 February 2006, 11:20 – 11:50
Persistent URL: http://www.vala.org.au/vala2006-proceedings/vala2006-session-11-thompson
Peter Thompson
Information Systems and Resources Librarian, La Trobe University Library, Bendigo
http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au
Please tag your comments, tweets, and blob posts about this session: #VALA2006
Abstract
This paper describes the development of a database to facilitate research into 19th century library management practices and borrower behaviour in Bendigo, Australia. The database schema was designed to reflect the cataloguing and numbering systems utilised in the library in the 1880’s. The schemes proved surprisingly versatile and effective in a database environment, and worked well to both illustrate and model the organisation of the library and to manage the data in a modern database.