NOTIS (Northwestern Online Total Integrated System) was a seminal
integrated library system first created at
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
, Evanston, IL USA in 1968. John P. McGowan, University Librarian from 1971 to 1992, recruited Professor James S. Aagaard to spearhead the project as lead programmer, and Velma Veneziano as systems analyst.
The core of the original system was written in
IBM 360 Assembler and ran on an IBM mainframe. The first module to go into production was Circulation on January 19, 1970; followed by the Technical Services module in October 1971. The system officially received its name NOTIS in May 1976.
The first library outside of
Northwestern University Library
Northwestern University Libraries is the main academic library system of Northwestern University. The library holds 7.9 million item including 228,505 maps, 107,446 print journals and 173,089 electronic journals, making it the 11th largest library ...
to implement NOTIS was the
National Library of Venezuela
The Biblioteca Nacional de Venezuela (in English: ''National Library of Venezuela''), located in Caracas, is the legal deposit and copyright for Venezuela. It was established on July 13, 1833, by decree of General José Antonio Páez. Diego Bauti ...
in the Spring of 1979.
By 1985 NOTIS integrated the public access catalog (
OPAC), circulation, acquisitions, serials control, cataloging, authority control, and database management. Automatic fund accounting was also under development. All NOTIS modules accessed a single bibliographic record.
In 1987 Northwestern University restructured the internal marketing department that had already sold the NOTIS system to several libraries outside of Northwestern, as NOTIS Systems, Inc, a for-profit corporation owned by the university. Jane Burke, who had been the marketing director for the NOTIS system since 1983, was appointed as President of the new corporation. By the fall of 1988 NOTIS software packages were in operation at more than 100 other sites.
Aagaard and Veneziano received the LITA/Gaylord Award for Achievement in Library and Information Technology award in July 1985 for their work on NOTIS. McGowan was named the 1989 Academic Librarian of the Year by the
Association of College and Research Libraries
The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association, is a professional association of academic librarians and other interested individuals. It is dedicated to enhancing the ability of academi ...
for his work promoting automation and information technology in libraries.
Ameritech purchased NOTIS Systems, Inc. from Northwestern University on October 1, 1991.
[Breeding, Marshall,]
epixtech: a new beginning for ALS
, January 2000, ''Information Today'', March 14, 2011
The NOTIS History Webpag
created in October, 2014, is a comprehensive website giving a complete picture of NOTIS history.
See also
*
Dynix
References
{{Reflist
External links
Cost Advantages of Total System Development*
ttp://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2006/02/mcgowan.html Former Librarian McGowan Dies at Age 79NOTIS History Webpage
Library automation