The paper describes the public library system in Finland, which is regulated by legislation. Included are the preparation of legislative reforms, funding, the development of library services, and the increase in library services and use during the past decade. (MF)

Librarians from Simon Fraser University, University of British Columbia, and University of Victoria formed a consortium for library cooperation, resource sharing, and professional communication. Aspects discussed include: collections; public services; processing and systems; reorganization; and effectiveness of the organization in meeting…

The performance of an interlibrary loan network is characterized by the probability of satisfying a request, delay in satisfying a request, total and unit costs, and processing load on each network member. In this article, a distributed queueing network is used to model this situation. (Author)

Report on a conference of state agency library directors aimed at upgrading management abilities, planning and evaluation. (KP)

The five critical years in the development of OCLC (1951-56), the culmination of a century of cooperation between Ohio's colleges and universities, are used to underscore its expansion into a bibliographic utility interconnecting 2400 institutions in the United States and Canada. There are 19 references. (RAA)

Recommends that library administrators turn to public administration models in preference to business administration models for network management; this choice is predicated on the not-for-profit aspects of public service organizations. (RAA)

Discusses controversial topics related to the nature and purpose of the library catalog, including the need for catalogs; users and nonusers; the nature of the bibliographic record; standards; disputes related to implementation of the second Anglo American Cataloging Rules; and resource sharing and networks. An extensive bibliography is included.…

Views research libraries as posing unique problems for a governance structure because of their ready access to private funding and relative immunity from legislative control. Cited as functions of a governance structure are establishment of policy and development of network standards. (SW)

Describes the Bibliographic Service Development Program begun in 1978 by the Council on Library Resources. The program's goals include (1) providing effective bibliographic services for all who need them, (2) improving the nature and quality of bibliographic products, and (3) stabilizing the costs of many bibliographic processes in individual…

Eight articles deal with library networking issues: (1) the library role; (2) development of a real computer network; (3) attitudes toward networks; (4) the emergence of local systems; (5) the Western Library Network; (6) the Cooperative Library Agency for Systems and Services; (7) the future of OCLC; and (8) building a unified information…

Libraries are changing. Funding limits and customer demands are transforming staffing levels, service models, access to resources, and services to the public. Administrators and taxpayers are seeking more efficient ways of delivering services to achieve greater returns on financial investments. In this article, the author discusses the benefits of…

Employees of a West Virginia library system were tired of intervening in frequent patron fights over the public access PCs. In this article, the author discusses how the implementation of time-control software for an automated session reservation/management service reduced the conflict. A team was assigned to investigate PC management software.…

The objectives of the Washington Library Network (WLN) are 1) statewide sharing of resources among all types of libraries, 2) economically meeting the information demands of all citizens of the state, and 3) centralized computer-communication systems for bibliographic services. (Author)

Defines a network and discusses some of the characteristics of existing networks. (PF)