A short history of BiblioMaker

The software has been created in 1987 for the "Ecole Normale" of Lausanne in Switzerland (now known as the High School of Pedagogy) with the BiblioMac name. At the beginning, BiblioMac ran only on the Apple Macintosh platform, but since 1997, a version for Microsoft Windows has also been available.

Of course, our library system has evolved a lot since the beginning. You will find here the most important steps since 1997 in the reverse chronological order.

Please note that each version contained more than 20 new functions that we do not mention here.

Version 5.0 - June 2011

• Developed with 4Dv12, compatible with Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. The fields can contain more text and a database can be much bigger.
• A search field has been added to the form for viewing a file.
• Searching for a title record on the web has been improved and is user-friendlier.
• It is now possible to import title data from the Bibliomedia library in Biasca.
• Loan duration can be defined by crossing reader and title types, and not only by the value defined in the copy. This leads to the possibility of preventing some kinds of readers to loan some kinds of titles (for instance comics for adults to children) .
• Display of a virtual showcase on the online catalogue's homepage. In this showcase, book covers are displayed dynamically. Shown titles are either new acquisitions or manually selected titles.
• In the online catalogue, new acquisitions can be found with only one mouse click.
• Several improvements in the online catalogue's easy search : it is now quicker, more flexible and gives more relevant results.

Version 4.1- February 2010

• Addresses linked to payment records are deleted easier
• Printing of loan tickets and of receipts on USB printers.
• Several improvements in the loan management window
• Improvement when printing circulation list for serials issues
• Importing swiss ZIP codes is easier
• Several improvements in the web public search

Version 4.0- May 2009

• New user interface even smarter and user-friendlier.
• New cataloguing template for titles with a more logical distribution of fields. New picture field for saving the title's cover page.
• New print format "End date of subscription for serials".
• In the loan management window, a book may be identified with the pre-printed ISBN-barcode : no need to stick a barcode label any more !
• In the loan management window, a reader who has just walked away may be called back onscreen with just 2 mouse clicks.
• Automatic verification of the validity of URLs saved in the database.
• In the web public search, the cover page of titles may be displayed.

Version 3.9.7 - February 2008

• Developed with 4D 2004.7. This version is compatible with Windows Vista and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.
• Compatible with the DiViBib digital library.
• New command "Open data file" making the management of several data files easier.
• A new page has been added to the cataloguing templates. This page displays a synthetic view of the title record, particularly useful for cataloguing control.
• Loans management : the log of a reader's previous loans can be printed.

Version 3.9.6 - August 2007

• Developed with 4D 2004. This version brings numerous improvements, in particular in the client-server architecture : the update of client computers is now completely automatic when installing a new version on the server.
• Search of records on the web : the system is able to search in several library catalogues simultaneously, increasing the chances to find the wanted records.
• Import of data delivered by Bibliomedia and SSB.Schweizer Bibliotheksservice ag/SSB.Service aux Bibliothèques.
• Improvements in the management of serials (alert if an issue is not delivered on time, printing of a list of missing issues).
• Numerous improvements in the WebOPAC : patrons may reserve titles, query their account and their past loans, renew their loans, cancel reservations, change their post address, register by the library.
  Moreover, an easy search is available on the catalogue's homepage : patrons type in some words and the system searches for these words in several fields : Title, Authors, Publisher, Series, Abstract, Subjects...

 Version 3.9.3 - February 2006

• Automatic search of records on the web in order to copy them
• Management of multilingual titles
• New authority file for series
• Export of records to a word processor with copy-paste
• WebOPAC user-interface completely rewritten and improved, better ergonomy

 Version 3.9.2 - September 2005

• Birth of BiblioMaker Light, the most economical version of the system

 Version 3.9 - December 2004

• Developed with 4D 2003 : native version for Mac OS X, improved compatibility with Windows XP
• Management of electronic resource (addresses of websites, archived electronic documents)
• Management of patrons' yearly fee
• Management of reminder fines
• Management of payments
• Numerous improvements in the loans management (additional functions and better ergonomy)
• Sending of correspondence per e-mail (reminders to patrons, orders to suppliers, etc.)

Version 3.6.3 - June 2002

• Management of loans in self-service in the public search OPAC.
• The integrated WebOPAC server may be installed on several servers.

Version 3.6.1 - March 2001

• Improvement of the automatic inventory

Version 3.6 - November 2000

• Developed with 4D 6.5 : compatibility with Windows 2000
• Copy of records found on the Internet for accelerating cataloguing
• Numerous improvements in the loans management
• New list for the serials circulation

 Version 3.5 - August 1999

• Developed with 4D 6.0
• Year 2000 compliant
• New list format called Number of loans giving for each title how often it has been lent. This list is particularly useful when eliminating titles.

BiblioMac becomes BiblioMaker
Besides the Apple Macintosh platform, the system is now compatible with Microsoft Windows
New user-interface