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 system atic approach to information systems planning, analysis and design. This article offers a bnef overview of systems method ologies 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 particu larly appropriate for detailed design of software, databases and hardware configurations. Library and information man agers rarely engage in fundamental systems design. Increas ingly, the library and information manager is not designing a system, but rather selecting the most appropnate 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 overmew reviews the applicability of existing informa tion systems methodologies for library systems