Decision support system research at Leicester Polytechnic

Leicester Polytechnic Library has recently completed a research programme for the British Library Research and Development Department into the application of office automation and decision support systems in particular to the library environment. Decision support systems (DSS) can seen as an extension of the idea of management information systems by providing a broader range of information in a more flexible and interactive way. There is a wide range of computer software claiming to offer decision support ranging from spread‐sheets at one end of the spectrum to knowledge based, or expert DSS programs, with proportional variations in cost. For this reason a definition of a DSS is difficult to establish but the major components of a system are generally considered to be: