Inter‐Library Loans using TINIend

The previous issue of VINE carried a general description of the integrated library system, TINlib from Information Made Easy, concentrating on the acquisitions, cataloguing and enquiry, circulation and serials control modules. These are now about to be joined by TINlend which has been undergoing site‐testing at, amongst others, the Universities of Sussex, Aston and Durham. TINlend is available as part of the integrated TINlib system or in what the supplier refers to as ‘side‐by‐side’ mode, which is the version installed in the test sites; the aforementioned libraries are, of course, Geac sites and use versions of the Geac Library System for their mainstream automation. The connection with Geac is not accidental: the development of the package was instigated by members of the Geac Library System Users' Group who opted for a microcomputer‐based solution to their ILL automationrequirements. The strategy proposed was to run ILL administration on a micro with appropriate links to the Geac minicomputer system for data transfer. After a couple of false starts, the software development passed to Information Management & Engineering (IME) Ltd who built the system using their TINman database management product according to a detailed specification produced by the Geac libraries. These libraries have, as noted above, been helping test the product, but without any commitment to purchase. The released product is now marketed by the IME subsidiary, Information Made Easy, with the other TINlib applications' software; all enquiries about TINIend should be addressed to IME rather than the test sites.