Best Library Management Software

Library management software optimizes the main library tasks that are recurring and enables librarians in searching the title required in central book record. It also assigns unique number to every title, categorizes books and helps in keeping track of titles locations in the library’s system.

Top 10 Library Management Software

1. Destiny Library Manager
2. Sierra ILS
3. Alma
4. WorldShare Management Services
5. SirsiDynix Symphony
6. Alexandria
7. LibAnswers
8. LibraryWorld
9. Apollo ILS/LSP
10. Koha

Destiny Library Manager- Destiny Library Manager is the software provided by Follet. It is the school library management system that enables librarians and administration department to maintain accurate data along with real time tracking of library’s inventories and media assets.

Sierra ILS- Sierra ILS is the integrated library system that is implemented mostly in large public libraries and universities. The software makes library more effective with its seamless integration feature. It can integrate numerous workflows, eResource management, circulations, catalogs, acquisition, and many more.

Alma- Alma is one of the leading library management system that offers support to library operations right from selecting to managing meta, digitalization, and consolidation. It is the cost-effective solution opted in the market.

WorldShare Management Services- WorldShare Management Services is the cloud-based solution offered by OCLC. The software comes with training of its working process, offers reports and analytics, and empowers student workers with its software app.

SirsiDynix Symphony- SirsiDynix Symphony is the highly advanced library system. It is the integrated library system that is used for getting library support in present as well as in future. It is the comprehensive and customizable ILS implemented in all types and size of libraries.

Alexandria- Alexandria is the customizable and scalable library automation system offered by the companion corporation. The software is browser based and needs to be implemented in the system for makig best use of it.  It comes with 24/7 support and can be accesses on any browser on any device without the need of app.

LibAnswers- LibAnswers is the communication and social media management platform used in the libraries. The software comes with the unified interface where all the social activities takes place at one place, users can respond or post on any social channel and the software even helps in filtering and organizing the channel activities.

LibraryWorld- LibraryWorld is the library automation software offered by company. The software helps users in managing their library collection and comes with cloud library where all the data is saved. It is one of the cost-effective solutions that also offer Online Patron Access (OPAC) and helps to quickly search required libraries hosted by the company.

Apollo ILS/LSP- Apollo ILS/LSP is the library management system used for public libraries. The software comes with the responsive catalog that can be used on phone, tablets as well as on PC and Mac. The vendor offers free tutorial on its website regarding the software working and functionalities.

Koha- Koha is the open source platform offered by LibLime. It is the web-based solution with the SQL database. The user interface of the software can be configured and can be easily adapted regardless of the language as it is been translated into numerous languages. Its major features include union catalog facility, bar code printing, customizable search, online search, and web tagging.

Market Overview

The best library management software is the library solution and resources management software. It enables users in carrying out core functions of libraries like bill payments, tracking product order that is received and also data regarding the books that are borrowed. The main use of library management system is that it reduces the difficulties in managing libraries especially in universities and other non-educational institutes. The software performs tasks like it handles books, title acquisitions, catalogs management, indexing, and also circulations. It is usually implemented in school, college, public & private library.

The best library management software market is driven by growing requirement of automation of library functionalities; along with this, the growth is also driven by the development in products that offer suitable library management solution by replacing the current product. Other driving factors are the growing adoption of mobile applications for library management for accessing the library related con tent at any place.

The global library management system market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4% and will reach USD 436.71 million during the forecast period of 2020-2024. Libraries nowadays, depend on library management solutions for managing the collection of assets and also for maintaining the relationship with the library member. These systems help librarians in keeping track of the docs’ inventories and loan, along with member’s subscription and profile. This software is used by library patrons for finding and reserving and loan documents whereas the employees of libraries employs it for managing the acquisitions, catalogs and docs’ inventories.

The library management solutions can be integrated with digital information repositories for allowing access to electronic resource. It can also be integrated with accounting software for managing the payment and other financial transaction. The software is recognized as the library management software if it contains the database that stores & manages the data on various type of content asset like book, magazine, movie, music record and many more, in varied formats like printing, electronics, videos etc.  It should also help in managing the patrons and members data comprising their profile, loan details, penalty, etc.

The competitive leadership mapping (Quadrant) showcased below provides information for the best Library management software. Vendor evaluations are based on two broad categories: product offering and business strategy. Each category carries various criteria, based on which vendors have been evaluated. The evaluation criteria considered under product offerings include the breadth of offering, delivery (based on industries that the vendors cater to, deployment models and subscriptions), features/functionality, delivery, product quality and reliability, and product differentiation. The evaluation criteria considered under business strategy include geographic footprint (based on geographic presence), channel strategy and fit, vision alignment, and effectiveness of growth (based on innovations, partnerships, collaborations, and acquisitions).

The best Library management software in this category is Destiny Library Manager.

The best software in this category are Alexandria, LibAnswers, Apollo ILS/LSP, and Library World.

The best software in this category are Sierra ILS, SirsiDynix Symphony, Alma, and WorldShare Management Services.

The best Library management software in this category is Koha.

Market Dynamics

Drivers

Growing need for automating the library management functionalities

The development in products that offer suitable library management solution

Growing adoption of mobile applications for library management for accessing the library related con tent at any place

Growing demand for automated database management

Restraints

Data security concerns are growing

Growing adoption of open source library management solution

Why use the Best Library Management System?

The best library management software is used for maintaining the records of the library. It performs tasks such as keeping track of books available in the library, the books issued to members or returned or renewed, or track of any penalty charged to members and many more such tasks. The software maintains the database that is very helpful as it records the new book details & record book that is borrowed along with the return data. It helps librarians by reducing the manual records maintenance burden.

The best library management software enables librarians for maintaining the library resources in the effective way that saves time. It is very much helpful for the library staff to maintain the process of book allotment and payment process. It is even helpful for students along with the librarians for keeping the track of books that are available in the library.

Importance of the best Library management software

The software is very much capable and user friendly that manages all the tasks related to library effectively.

It reduces the manual work and optimizes the entire process with few clicks and small edits.

It manages data very well. So, there is no need to worry about the data security and its search from the records.

Book allotment and returns becomes online directly through UI by signing in and mentioning the dates.

Security and authorizations can be modified on the software by the library staff for added database management and data security.

One authorized individual can manage the entire software so the chances of making any errors are reduced at a higher extent.

 The Best Library Management Software also improves organization’s libraries by optimizing the tasks like circulation and membership. It also manages the tasks such as organizing the acquisition, cataloging the items, generation of reports and collection of payments from the members. The software increases efficiency and engagement of the library. The efficiency is improved mainly by maintaining the central repository of library that has the details about assets. This definitely increases the efficiency at a higher extent. On the other hand, the software comes with the member portal that contains all the data related to members like their membership activities and their transactions as well. Only library staff has access to this feature offered by the software.

What are the different types of libraries that implement the library management system?

The major types of libraries are as mentioned below:

Academic libraries

Since learning and education is high priority, so the educational institutions started with the libraries along with the institutions. Along with the higher education, schools and institutions also implemented the systematic learning program and started with the libraries at the schools, universities, higher education, as well as at professional and research institutes. The major responsibility of the academic libraries is of providing access to the source of data that will help to grow the knowledge.

Public Libraries

There is the huge impact of growing literacy, high-level education and huge books launch along with the change in the condition people live in the society. This all resulted in more people reading books and gaining knowledge. With the force of neo political thought, there is rise in the public needs for free reading facility. With this demand, the public library came into picture for borrowing and reading books. These libraries are usually supported by the government money and are having main responsibility of fulfilling public needs.

Special Libraries

With the quick industrial development in the world there was huge advancement in the science and technology area research. Post this there was huge need for the specialized literature along with increase in business and commercial activities. This gave rise to the special libraries. These libraries are usually one subject libraries and serves institutions for the specific subject. Based on the size of the institution these libraries vary in their size and are run only by the librarians or one more assistant instead of big library staff.

Government Libraries

From last few decades, the government responsibilities are increased for people welfare. This gave rise to the government libraries which contains the information on work of various ministries and government departments.

National Libraries

All the mentioned developments gave rise to the publication of numerous docs’ related to the various activities that takes place in the country. These became reason of starting the national library so that the country’s culture and heritage is kept secured for longer time.

What are the different types of Library models that use the Library management system?

Physical Library or Traditional Library

The physical library is also known as the traditional library is the library that contains numerous books, newspapers and other documents and publications that are used to learn, educate and create awareness in the public. The sizes of these libraries may vary they can be small or may have multiple rooms or can even be large with multiple floors or buildings.

Electronic Library

The electronic libraries include multiple electronic resources as its main asset. The electronic library can be in the form of any media like computer disk, DVD, or magnetic tape. These are born digital resources that are created in the digital form directly. The differentiation between electronic, virtual, and digital library is done based on the modes in which the data is stored and the technical service that is provided.  In this type of library, the collection resource is only the born digital electronic resource.

Digital Library

The main asset of this library are the digitalized version of the printed documents. In this library the collection can be in any form. It can be either the digitized books or the born digital material. The institution repository is usually the digital library with the digitized collection of data.

Virtual Library

There is the thin line difference between the digital library and the virtual library. The virtual libraries are the combination of digital library and the electronic library which come with the data from both the libraries in the virtual space.  This type of library does not use any physical part like CD, DVD or any other thing that can be used in electronic or digital library.

Hybrid Library

In today’s era there are multiple hybrid libraries as the libraries use the data in physical form, digital form as well as in the electronic form. The hybrid library comes with the single user interface that enables in accessing the electronic resource and other resource in multiple formats.

Benefits of Library Management system

The major benefits of this software are as below:

Simple and easy to use-

The best library management software is usually easy and user friendly that can integrates well with the existing software in the libraries. The major benefit is that it offers online as well as offline storage, automatic backup and can be upgraded easily that simplifies and enhances the learning process of the library.

Increases library engagement-

With the feature of storing all the books, journal, photo, video and all the digital media in library at one place libraries can increase the engagement of its users with the access of 24/7 for the library resources. This is very helpful for the students and all the members of library and keeps them engaged.

Manages cloud data efficiently-

The software automates, simplifies and deploys library’s database easily for making it easy for the institute that benefits it for secured cloud service. It also improves the efficiency with the optimization of various library work comprising the acquisitions, catalogs, serial management, circulations and reference.

Secured, scalable and reliable-

The institute libraries benefits from the scalable infrastructure, role based secured access, high performance and reliability for ensuring the easy access to the library database.

Mobile access-

The best library management system offers the mobile app for searching the library catalogs, schedule, book and resources from any location through their mobile application on smart phone and tablet.

Dynamic report-

For maximizing the performance of libraries with the dynamic report, chart, and graph for reviewing and tracking the progress from better decision making.

Error free-

The best library software is automated is very easy to use and a powerful solution that helps in entering data easily for making library operations error free and accurate.

Innovation-

With this software, students can quickly search and can also write the article and uploads photo and video, manages emails, sends message but also helps them in keeping up with the librarians and other student via chats, discussions, forums and social media management.

Flexible and customizable solution-

The best library management software can be customized and adapts as per the needs of the education institutes for providing fast and reliable information.

Cost-effective-

With the advanced technologies used in the software, it is the cost effective solution and comes with varied choices as per the type of libraries in the market. With the usage of cloud, mobile and digital library it eliminate paper based process and maintains overhead, enhances the productivity and minimizes the operational cost and save time.

Who uses the Library Management System?

Librarians- The software is majorly used by librarians for managing the libraries and the resources in the library. These are usually the staff of the library that interacts with the library management app for the longer time.

Library members- There are various who register themselves at the library and get the membership at the library. The library management system offers the user interface for the members of library. This interface can be used by the members for checking out the library’s events and for managing the assets or books that they have borrowed for the particular time from the library.

What are different kinds of library management systems as per deployment and subscription type?

Cloud based software- The best library management software can be deployed on the cloud. This type of deployment is in high demand considering the world is moving towards virtual advancement. The data is securely stored on the cloud and there are less chances for making any errors or losing any particular file.

On-Premise software- The on-premise deployment of the software is one of the widely implemented software in the libraries. The on-premise deployment is implemented in the library itself and all the data is stored in the library interface itself.

Subscription- The subscription based library management solution comes with various plans where users need to pay to the vendors either monthly or annually for accessing the data. The vendors most of times updates the software directly or can even charge additional amount to the users for getting the software updated. Users also get customer support service from the vendor for any queries related to the software.

Perpetual License- This type of software is usually purchased by the vendor directly and then the users do not have to pay any additional amount in future and users are completely for the responsible for the software working from the date of purchase.

Top Features of the Library management System

Major features of Library Management system are as below:

Bar code technology-

The latest library management system is capable of reading the bar codes. This is one of the most top rated feature of the software and optimizes the process. This lets users to keep track of the materials that are available in library and the one those are borrowed. It saves huge time.

Multimedia-

Most of the libraries offers the multimedia feature like it contains the materials such as CD, DVD, audio or videos apart from traditional books and printed documents. So the software must have the capability of saving such digital media as well.

Print Options-

The software comes with the print option that lets the users to print the required docs and materials. This helps in automating the historical data of the members and enables in keeping track of books issued & returned.

Compatibility-

The software should be compatible with all kinds of available OS and other tools like MS-office, SQL and DBMS.

Access-

The data stored in the system should be capable of accessing from any location and at any point of time. It should be user friendly and come with easy navigation.

Integration-

The software should be able to be integrated with other software like accounting software or any other required and existing software in the library. This will ease out the process of managing the library and the data can be collated at one place.

Efficiency-

The important modules in the library need to be embedded. Therefore, the functionality that enables users to get notification or alert can make the process seamless. The online data accessibility helps to make catalog fast and the data entry becomes easy.

User self service portal-

With the self-service portal provided to the users it becomes manageable to log in in own account and access all the data related to all kinds of transactions and users can also check the online books availability and many more.

Technological features-

With the advanced technology the software enables users to customize it as per requirements. With the customizable interface it becomes possible to engage the users at the higher extent.

Support-

The support should be provided by the vendor to library employees for any queries related to the software. This will help them to understand the software in detail and keeps them updated with the latest version of the software.

Data management-

The software manages the library data by maintaining the data security and the collected data comprises everything from the assets to the membership and payment details of the library members.

Inventory management-

This is one of the important features of the best library management software and enables users in managing the library inventories.

Asset acquisition management-

Libraries continuously expand their expand their collection for providing its users with the multiple offerings and collections. For managing that, it acquired the new assets. With this feature in the software the asset acquisition process is managed properly right from the sourcing to the purchase of asset and the details are stored.

Circulation management-

With the feature of circulation management, the users can manage the books and other asset of libraries are tracked and checked.

Payment collection-

The software also sends automated reminders and alerts for bill payments and the data is also stored in the software.

Mobility-

With the mobile app, the users can use the software at any time and at any location. This feature is usually designed for library members.

Trends in the Library Management System market

Cloud software-

The world is turning towards cloud and all the data stored in the best library management software gets stored on cloud. These cloud-based solutions are flexible and easy in maintenance and can be accessed from anywhere.

Digital Transformation-

The digital transformation in library industry is growing and has changed the way the libraries are operated and managed. Libraries started offering the programs for introducing the student to these concept and includes programming language and VR.