Prompted by the success of the World Wide Web, many providers are beginning to open their databases to external users. It is the aim of this diploma thesis to develop a library information system which supports librarians in their search and capture of documents. The name of the system is ZACK . The user of ZACK can search in one or several bibliographic databases for a document and include the suitable document in a local database. This inclusion of data records from an external database makes the capture of new documents much easier, as it reduces internal cataloging to a minimum.
Double work is eliminated and a continuously high quality of data records is ensured.
The distributed search by means of ZACK is carried out in several databases in parallel. The user can then decide for himself from which database to include data records . In practice, a distributed search has produced far better results than the search in one particular database. Response times are within an acceptable limit for the user. The short list of hits is made clearer and more concise by the duplicate check.