DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A USER-INTERFACE FOR THE LIBRARY DATABASE AT ICRISAT

This paper describes the development of a user interface to a composite database, i.e. one containing records for library-held monographs as well as for journal articles, conference documents and non-conventional literature, downloaded from global databases. The user environment and characteristics of users for whom the interface is targeted are discussed. The features of BASIS, the retrieval software in use at ICRISAT to create, maintain and search the library's database and the need to build an interface for the occasional user are discussed. The objectives of building the user interface, software options considered, and the development of the interface using the BASIS menu language are presented.