Chapter I: "Background and Description of Regional Library Development in Ontario," aimed at placing the perspective of centralized processing within the framework of cooperative effort, presents some general discussion of these two concepts. The Ontario plan, and the relationship of the Midwestern Regional Library System and its…

Recounts the difficulties of bringing together state and regional programs in a nationwide system. (Author)

A true library network is the interfacing of more than one kind of system (i.e., public and academic) rather than cooperation between libraries of the same type. Networks may take many forms, such as: cooperative development of resources, with assignment of subject areas to separate facilities; a cooperative storage system, with the libraries…