A study of computer facilities in British libraries highlighted the respective benefits and disadvantages of using the parent institution's central computer or using a dedicated minicomputer. The large computer's technical advantages include greater opportunities for sharing or buying operational software, and the availability of experienced…

This paper describes how two small non-profit libraries successfully computerized their periodical record and routing systems. The steps required in gaining acceptance of the idea, planning, designing, installing, and perfecting each system are included. The Population Council library, whose clerical staff was formerly responsible for manually…

To help the librarian in negotiating with vendors of automated library services, nine authors have presented methods of dealing with a specific service or situation. Paper topics include computer services, network contracts, innovative service, data processing, automated circulation, a turn-key system, data base sharing, online data base services,…

Research needs in area of library technical services are identified, focusing on costs, the catalog, bibliographic data, new cataloging code, subject access in online catalogs, acquisitions, serials control system, universal technical processing terminals, data storage devices, robots and artificial intelligence, bibliographic instruction, and…

Computer output microfilm/fiche (COM) combines the speed and laborsaving aspects of computer-based systems with the economy and physical compactness of microforms to provide the medium of the future for library management and information retrieval. The traditional card catalog and printed lists found in every library can be replaced in multiple…

Discusses trends in computer technology and their use for library catalogs, noting the concept of bandwidth (describes quantity of information transmitted per given unit of time); computer hardware differences (micros, minis, maxis); distributed processing systems and databases; optical disk storage; networks; transmission media; and terminals.…

To keep up with the tempo of the 20th century and to further its plans for service in 1980, the Natrona County Public Library initiated full time, regular use of a cable television channel in 1971. The instantaneous character of televised communication provided a stimulant for developing rapid information retrieval techniques covering broad bases…

This paper provides information workers with some practical approaches to the design, development, and use of local databases that form components of information storage and retrieval systems (ISR) and of automated library operations. Topics discussed include: (1) course objectives for the design and development of local databases for library and…

The seven papers in this collection describe parliamentary library services and activities in both developed and developing countries: (1) "The Electronic Catalogue of the Library of the Deutscher Bundestag" (Ernst Kohl, West Germany); (2) "Library of the Assembly of the Republic: Modernization Efforts" (A. Cabral, Portugal);…

Based on a presentation at the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), this article discusses a university-based computer network that would support electronic publishing. Highlights include the influence on libraries and librarians; technical and operational standards; economic factors; and institutional planning. Six sidebars address other…

At most schools and universities, the traditional roles of the library and computing services organizations have begun to converge as the technologies they use to store, transmit, and retrieve information and, in some cases, the information itself, become increasingly similar. Examples of the changing patterns of information storage and retrieval…

Four speeches are presented, each of which deals with the use of conputers to organize and retrieve news stories. The first speech relates in detail the step-by-step process devised by the "Free Press" in Detroit to analyze, categorize, code, film, process, and retrieve news stories through the use of the electronic film retrieval…