The silo is a well-worn metaphor in information systems used to illustrate separateness, isolation, and lack of connectivity. Through the many iterations of system development, libraries, archives, and museums (LAMs) have sought to avoid silos and find the sweet spot between interface design and metadata interoperability. This effort is being…

The member libraries of the Ohio College Library Center (OCLC) adopted standards for input cataloging in order to improve the technical processes while still keeping costs at a minimum. Increased compatibility of records input by different libraries so that records input by one could be more readily used by others was the final goal. It was…

Discusses the information explosion as it relates to the emergence of the information handling capability explosion, or the use of computer technology, citing library network online databases as evidences of information control. (EJS)

BELLTIP is an on-line library processing system concerned with book acquisitions, cataloging, and financial accounting for a newwork of 26 technical libraries. At its center is an interactively updated and queried set of files concerned with all items currently in process. Principal products include all purchase orders, claims, and cancellations;…

The main instrument of data collection in this survey of library technical processing centers was a questionnaire sent to 16 network coordinators. Following a review of current literature, results of the questionnaire are discussed with regard to five areas: (1) each network's means of identification (definition) of processing centers, (2) types…

Various approaches to the design of automatic library systems are described, suggestions for the design of rational and effective automated library processes are posed, and an attempt is made to assess the importance and effect of library network systems on library operations and library effectiveness. (Author/CWM)

The main objectives of Project BALLOTS (Bibliographic Automation of Large Library Operations Using a Time-Sharing System) are to control rising technical processing costs and, at the same time, to provide improved levels of service. This report on BALLOTS Phase II is concerned with the development and implementation of the production library…

Discussion of the effect of computer technology on library automation and networking highlights added benefits and added costs, autonomous past, pressure for standardization, rise of bibliographic utilities (e.g., OCLC, Research Library Information Network, Washington Library Network), return to decentralization, distributed processing,…

Describes two methods for the computerization of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (CJK) input and output--Research Libraries Group's Sinoterm and OCLC's Asiagraphics. East Asian vernacular computerization efforts, system development, character sets, terminal design and keyboards, and member library use of CJK records are highlighted. Six references…

This comparative study of three major online bibliographic systems is designed to provide assistance to library administrators in the assessment of the potential impact of such systems upon the operations of their libraries. A side by side arrangement of the text allows an overview of any specific characteristic under consideration. These…

The minutes of a meeting sponsored by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is presented. Thirty-one representatives, primarily from the library community, met at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. on July 19, 1974, for an ARL-sponsored meeting to discuss a recently-completed feasibility study of a computer-based system for…

The amount of change resulting from the implementation of the Bibliographic Automation of Large Library Operations using a Time-sharing System (BALLOTS) is analyzed, in terms of (1) physical room arrangement, (2) work procedure, and (3) organizational structure. Also considered is the factor of amount of time the new system has been in use.…

The first phase of an ongoing library automation project at Stanford University is described. Project BALLOTS (Bibliographic Automation of Large Library Operations Using a Time-Sharing System) seeks to automate the acquisition and cataloging functions of a large library using an on-line time-sharing computer. The main objectives are to control…

The Library of Congress presents the history of its Machine Readable Cataloging (MARC) system. Descriptions of MARC pilot projects and distribution services are followed by a discussion of several conversion projects undertaken by libraries in order to implement MARC. Then MARC's influence on standardization of formats for information interchange,…

BALLOTS is a computerized system to support acquisitions and cataloging in the Stanford University Libraries. The system is divided into ten computerized functions, each supporting a specific type of library processing. The library staff communicates on-line with the system using four on-line files for searching: the MARC file, the In Process…