A review of the DLSU Library's system downtime for the years 2010 and 2011

• Main Author: Fresnido, Ana Maria B.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2012
• Subjects: Integrated library systems (Computer systems); Computer system failures; Library and Information Science
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/5458
• Institution: De La Salle University

During the re-accreditation visit of the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU) for the DLSU's Colleges of Science (COS), Liberal Arts (CLA) and Business and Economics (CBE) on August 7-8, 2010, it was specified in one of its recommendations that the "frequent downtime of e-journal servers experienced by students in accessing the online databases outside the campus shall be acted upon." This study, which covered statistics from January 1, 2010 up to December 31, 2011, was therefore conducted in order to review the Library's system downtime and find ways to minimize the problem by finding solutions specifically to those that are within the control of the Library. Reviewing the system downtime will provide a more accurate picture of the extent of the problem (i.e. frequent downtime) which in turn will aid the library administrator to come up with appropriate solutions. The following are the salient findings of the study: 1. The number of days that the DLSU Library system was down in the year 2010 was 21 days, and 11 days in year 2011; 2. Total downtime for 2010 summed up to 218:36:52 (hours:minutes:seconds) which is equivalent to about 9 whole days of downtime in for the year, while for 2011 total downtime summed up to 74:48:30 (hours:minutes:seconds) corresponding to about 3 whole days; 3. The longest period of time that downtime was experienced for 2010 was 21:05:02 (hours:minutes:seconds) whereas it was 6:34:37 (hours:minutes:seconds) for the year 2011; 4. Downtimes usually occurred during Wednesdays and Sundays for both years 2010 and 2011; 5. Downtime for 2010 mostly transpired between 12:01 AM to 12:21 PM and 6:18 PM to 11:46 PM while it was between 12:00 AM to 8:45 AM in 2011; 6. Downtime was experienced only in seven (January, March, April, June, August, October and November) out of twelve months in 2010 compared to 5 out of 12 months during the year 2011, specifically for the months of January, April, May, July and September; 7. April logged the most number of days when downtime occurred in 2010 while in 2011 the month with the most number of days with downtime was May; 8. Network failure was identified as the most common cause of downtime both for the years 2010 and 2011. Other causes include power failure and software defects/failure; 9. Downtimes caused by network failure were usually arrested within the first two working hours of the Library in the morning during weekdays. During weekends, specifically for year 2010, resolving the problem took longer most likely because the Library is closed and there is no one monitoring the system. The study concluded that while downtimes did occur in the last two years (2010 and 2011), the number of times and days downtimes were experienced proved to be occasional hence the impact in terms of information retrieval may have been very minimal if not very insignificant. As network failure was ascertained to be the main cause of downtimes, which can be easily arrested by simply restarting the WebOPAC process, it seemed that the problem really is close monitoring of the system rather than frequent downtime. Finally, the following recommendations are enumerated: 1. To minimize downtimes and further reduce downtime period, it is strongly recommended that monitoring is enhanced; 2. To be able to do this, the Library should upgrade its system to Innovative's Sierra Services Platform. Through this, automatic restarting of the WebOPAC, as well as manual monitoring of the system, may be done simultaneously; and, 3. To document the manual monitoring being performed, together with the reports received from clients when downtime is experienced.