The Five Associated University Libraries (FAUL) is an example of a network which is not yet really a network in its own right: it is a free-loader on components of other networks, e.g. NYSILL, national ILL codes, TWX, telephone, UPS, U.S. Mails and the like. In fact, the organization could wake up one day and find all of its objectives met by…

The current trend in biomedical information systems is to decentralization. Starting with the Medical Library Assistance Act of 1965, various plans of organization have been tried for improving the national diffusion of medical information. In 1968 the John Crerar Library became the Midwest Regional Medical Library, serving as an intermediary…

The libraries in U.S. research universities are being systematically depopulated of current subscriptions to scholarly journals. Annual increases in subscription costs are consistently outpacing the growth in library budgets; this has become a chronic problem for academic libraries which collect in the fields of science, engineering, and medicine.…

The Michigan Library Consortium (MLC) is studying the problems and possibilities of networking, with the Ohio College Library Center (OCLC) as a model and possible data base for the MLC. Standards on an international scale must be developed, and the need for constantly improving technology, particularly computers, must be recognized. Since the…

Discusses the rationale, methodology, capabilities and problems of a local area network created for the Library Consortium of Health Institutions in Buffalo, using a multi-user microcomputer. The rationale and design of a new network, designed to better meet information and compatibility requirements, are described and suggestions to network…