Argues that in-house database building offers possibilities for staff development, can provide important links between the library and the community, and can become important tools for local networking and cooperative collection development. Issues related to database planning, design, and testing are discussed, and several examples of existing…

Describes the development of California Institute of Technology Libraries' local database of articles from science and engineering journals and its integrated document request and delivery feature. It is noted that not all journals received by the libraries are in the database, backfiles are limited, and coverage is not comprehensive. (five…