INFORMATION-SYSTEMS METHODOLOGIES - A REVIEW AND ASSESSMENT OF THEIR APPLICABILITY TO THE SELECTION, DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION-SYSTEMS

An organised systems analysis and design project is essential to a successful systems implementation. Systems methodologies have been developed to encourage a systematic approach to information systems planning, analysis and design. This article offers a brief overview of systems methodologies starting with the traditional approach and considering structured hard methodologies and soft methodologies. Methodologies offer a series of phases and steps through which a project must proceed and a series of tools and techniques to assist in analysis and design. They are particularly appropriate for detailed design of software, databases and hardware configurations. Library and information managers rarely engage in fundamental systems design. Increasingly, the library and information manager is not designing a system, but rather selecting the most appropriate system or software package and then tailoring a hardware configuration and a system to a specific application. This is a role that managers in other areas will also increasingly encounter. This overview reviews the applicability of existing information systems methodologies for library systems.