Contributors from five libraries--Bentley College, Boston University, the College of Charleston, the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire, and the Resource Sharing Alliance of West Central Illinois--describe their automation projects, including staff impact; costs and funding; time and schedules; users; computer support; vendors; and consultants.…

Background information about Peninsula Library Automated Network member libraries and description of the circulation system of choice include basic components of this cooperative effort: Joint Powers Agreement and organizational structure; jurisdiction responsibilities and financial planning; database and policy areas requiring joint decision;…

Provides detailed description of New York University's (NYU) Bobst Library Local Area Network (LAN), which was designed and implemented by Geac Computers International technical personnel and NYU library systems staff. Definitions of terminology, why the library installed a LAN, planning, network installation, and the LAN configuration and…

Outlines New York State's plan for all libraries to provide electronic services to their users by the use of computer and telecommunications technology. Recommendations of the initiative's organizing committee focus on: services and funding; equity and ease of access; profession and education; partnerships; standards and protocols; collection…

Describes eight multilibrary automation and connectivity initiatives in Alabama that involve public libraries, regional library systems, county library systems, library networks, academic libraries, and public school libraries. Addresses and contact people are supplied for each organization. (LRW)

Efforts of the Technical Standards for Library Automation Committee (TESLA), a division-wide committee of the Library Information and Technology Association (LITA) of the American Library Association, are described. The current status of suggested technical standards and recommended action are detailed. Five sources are given. (Author/EJS)

This 62-item bibliography lists library journal articles published in the 1980s which provide an overview of what is happening in the world of bibliographic utilities, i.e., organizations that maintain large online bibliographic databases and provide products and services related to these bases and to its members. Subdivision within bibliography…

Describes Tennessee Technological University Library's participation in test of a network's local online services, i.e., database maintenance, authority control, reference support/patron access. Online catalog, training, patron access points, transactions and response time, database maintenance activities, bibliographic and authority record…

Describes Pica, an organization in the Netherlands which evolved from the Project for Integrated Catalogue Automation that includes the National Library and all university libraries. Topics include the organizational structure, the shared online cataloging system, interlibrary loan, library networks and database access, and electronic document…

Discussion of using vendors for retrospective conversion of library catalogs rather than in-house projects highlights reasons to consider vendors, four conversion methodologies, and vendor selection criteria (database, non-matches, local data, accuracy, charging, schedule, product delivery time, local system compatibility, MARC format, impact on…

Details the design, financial support, organizational structure, and evolution of a program to facilitate the automation of small public libraries in Massachusetts and to promote resource sharing among those libraries. A sidebar by Governor Dukakis expresses his views on the role and importance of libraries. (MES)

Provides an overview of the development of cooperative library automation and connectivity in Idaho, including telecommunications capacity, library networks, the Internet, and the role of the state library. Information on six shared automation systems in Idaho is included. (LRW)

Through a single computerized system, the Libraries Information Access System provides interactive, integrated access to a range of information functions in support of services meeting both academic needs (bibliographic access for research, instructional support) and administrative needs (processing, inventory control, communications, record…

Discusses the development of electronic libraries at Cornell University's (New York) Mann Library and elsewhere and presents an overview of changes in services and staff responsibilities needed to address user needs. Sidebar articles discuss Internet access to government information; changing staff roles; geographic information systems; the Mann…

Provides an overview of library automation and connectivity projects in Texas that are proceeding with awareness of ethnic, economic, and technological diversity. Topics include a statewide electronic library that incorporates government information and Internet access; school library shared resources; academic library resource sharing; multitype…