The TinREAD system development was funded due to two large government contracts with USAID (National Collective Catalogue of Romania) and National Library of Moldavia (National Shared Catalogue of Moldavia). Because these two government contracts funded all development, the system was built based on ideas of experts in the field consisting of specialist teams from both library communities. The focus of these groups was to build the ideal system and because there was no pressure to make sales, the focus was kept on the integrity of the system. The result is a sophisticated and extensible system architecture and robust functionality.

Two and a half years were spent on developing code for TinREAD main functionality. Here much emphasis was placed on developing the core engine and the data modeling process.  While coding was being done, in parallel for more than one year system analysis was performed by the specialist library teams in Romania and Moldavia. This analysis included details about standards and internationalization. The internationalization was an essential component, as was the ability to handle many different national standards.

The result is TinREAD’s core, an ILS application generator that allows the System Administrator to completely define the application at runtime with no need to modify the source code. Parameterization concept usually defined by ILS system is extended by TinREAD to a new approach: application generating. The menus, submenus, lists, forms, fields, relations, validation, access-rights are all customizable by System Administrator and allows the most flexibility ever possible for an ILS.

TinREAD can be considered an Integrated Library System (ILS). In fact, the functionality included in TinREAD is more than the one in usual ILS systems and a more accurate term to define TinREAD is NILS (Neo – Integrated Library System). Traditional ILS supposes a complex integrated environment with standard functionality for users (OPAC, WebOPAC) and staff (Cataloguing, Circulation, Acquisitions, Serials Control). Such systems are doing a great job for an old-style library working by itself. Modern libraries need not only their departments to be integrated, but also the library to be a part to the global flow of information between libraries or other actors holding information. Also, the endless process of improving library services requires new tools, new functionality and obviously a new type of software.

TinREAD is such software.

TinREAD.Mini is the standalone application designed for small libraries, like school or commune libraries. These libraries have the opportunity of using a modern and powerful system fully compatible with the one running in large libraries, thus extending libraries collections with external sources of information. TinREAD.Mini is easy to use and the forms for data input are restricted to their minimum, even though extended version of the forms are available with just one click. This version can be used by one single user at a time on a standalone computer.

TinREAD.Standard is a powerful version of this ILS selected by many medium or large libraries to automate their activities. This is the Client/Server version of the system designed for Multiuser applications. LAN (Local Area Network), MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) or WAN (Wide Area Network) implementations are the ones suitable for this version. TinREAD.Standard is not just another standard ILS like many others on the market. Build with the powerful framework of TINREAD core, this Neo-ILS has a lot more to offer than standard products. Please check the description of each module available in TinREAD Product Overview to get a closer image about this unique product. Available modules are: Web OPAC, Cataloguing, Circulation, Acquisitions, Serials Control, MARC editor, Z39.50/ZING, Reports Generator, Administration.

TinREAD.Expert is a modern NILS/DLS and offers the very best of TINREAD. The complex capabilities and dedicated functionality available with this version applies to large/huge projects like National Catalogues (Union, Collective, Shared). Such projects assume specialized flow of data, building new dedicated modules and procedures of intensive customization for a traditional ILS. Also, huge, national or international projects suppose large scale development in a very tight timescale. TinREAD.Expert is built from the very start to be able to manage such difficult tasks. IME team is also committed to dynamism, fast development and flexibility and winning more than 8 (eight) international bids for complex projects is by itself the prove for TinREAD.Expert capabilities.

This special version includes also the entire functionality of a traditional ILS, extends it and adds specific functionality for DLS (Digital Library System). A lot of Expert options are supplemental for the Standard version (ex. Extended OPAC & Data Integration, ILL module, Collective/Union Catalogue, Shared Catalogue, DLS Tools, FRBR cataloguing).

Selective list of features

The powerful features of this family of products are fully described into TinREAD Product Overview brochure. The new approach and innovative ideas included in TinREAD make the difference between this information system and any other ILS. This section joins together most important and special features in order to allow you an overview upon this unique product.

• Technology; State-of-art technology: Java, SQL, Oracle, Eclipse; Client/Server architecture, N-Tier.
• MARC; Full MARC implementation (/B, /A, /H) and even more; forms available in short (condensed) format or extended (complete) format; displays also MARC catalogued data in labeled or FRBR format (Work, Manifestation, Expression, Item); FRBR style navigation in OPAC.
• Multiple MARC formats are allowed in the same database; records are stored and retrieved in the original format; ex. the bibliographical database can contain MARC21, UNIMARC, CHMARC records; descriptions are searched all together and retrieved like a unified catalogue.
• Multiple editing windows; Multiple records can be edited by one user at the same time, even if they are from different modules.
• Multilingual thesaurus; advanced implementation schema allowing linkage between terms in different languages; ex. data described (catalogued) using a list of subject in one language (say Romanian) can be searched by users against English terms, for instance; the appropriate correspondence is done automatically by TinREAD.
• External sources; Information (bibliographical descriptions or else) can be taken online from other sources (Z39.50, http etc) with drag&drop from one window to another, thus placing them into the library catalogue.
• Multicasting; parallel searching for multiple databases no matter of their type (Library, web page, electronic resources database); the result page is updated intelligently to minimize the traffic and to display to the user the updated responses from each source; availability of an item via SIP2 protocol.
• Collective Catalogue; online algorithm for data deduplication (ISBN, title, author, publisher, year, edition etc).
• Shared Catalogue; Bibliographical authority mechanism for users and user classes; three levels for data validation: formal, authority lists, bibliographical authority level.
• Multimedia; multimedia descriptions; forms for each material type (ex. audio/video) and also capabilities to attach multimedia files to multimedia descriptions.
• Digital Library Tools; Input/Scan module, Content management and formatting, Annotation tools available for users.
• Reports; Interactive reports generator by drag&drop-ing fields; free-text or tabular reports; on screen reports or export to PDF, RTF, HTML, XLS; scheduled reports.
• Advanced conversion programs from/to ISO 2709, XML, XLS etc.
• Internationalization; UNICODE, Custom sort rules, Custom sort strings (defined in respect with non-sorting words – stop words).
• Translation; Easy to translate: on the screen with just a click on an interface object.
• Customization; is performed at runtime by the System Administrator (no source code modified) for: menus/submenus tree, lists, filters, forms, fields, access rights, reports, system parameters etc.
• Input methods; Select characters from a table with one click or use custom methods (ex. five stroke or four corners).
• Barcodes and RFID integration.
• Email, SMS, WAP integration.
• Transactions log, transactions validation (deleted/modified records), transactions recovery.
• Security; x.509 v3 certificate used for data encryption.
  
  Updated information, demos or access to live TinREAD are all available at www.tinread.ro.
  
  „TinREAD is state of the art software built with best technology available.“