A member of the British delegation to the Intergovernmental Conference on the Planning of National Documentation, Library and Archives Infrastructures (Paris, September 1974) gives his views on the results of the conference and its implications for the future development of national information systems. (Author/PF)

This report contains the goals, assumptions, objectives, and functions of the National Library and Information Service Network and its library bibliographic component. An overview is given of the networking activities in the U.S. today, and the operational and planned national bibliographic services of the Library of Congress, followed by sections…

This description of the Africa Bibliographic Centre (ABC) concept--which is still in a formative stage--provides brief summaries of the 12 components of the system, including an African lending library, bibliographic publishing, a commission on information and bibliographic systems, an African microfiche publications center, African abstracting…

Overview of activities and issues that face library administrators considering automation emphasizes acquisition of turnkey systems. Discussion covers reasons for automating, options available, major marketplace issues, keys to a successful automation project, the Request for Information, the Request for Proposal, evaluation techniques, the…

The systems approach is being applied to the re-organization of the United Kingdom Library system. The core functions to the national library organization are: (1) reference; (2) lending; (3) bibliographic services; and (4) general planning associated with the development of a national library and information system. Despite the immense potential…

Administrators relate their experiences in development and governance of library networks--AMIGOS (an OCLC local system); network developed by University of Minnesota Libraries; the California Library Authority for Systems and Services (CLASS); OCLC--and note past accomplishments and future prospects of the National Commission on Libraries and…

Description of information services from the National Library of Medicine (NLM) highlights a new system for retrieving information from NLM's databases (GRATEFUL MED); a formal Regional Medical Library Network; DOCLINE; the Unified Medical Language System; and Integrated Academic Information Management Systems. Research and development and the…

The mechanics of the Soviet library system, the availability of libraries to the citizenry, organizational components, and the development and planning principles of librarianship as they follow Leninist national policy are discussed in this paper by V.V. Serov, Head of the Main Library Directorate, USSR Ministry of Culture. A program of library…

The efforts of university libraries in the United States to develop and implement rational plans are exemplified by the activities of the Association of Research Libraries, originator of various plans for library cooperation including the Farmington Plan and the National Program for Acquisitions and Cataloging. Another example of effective…

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 problem of selecting which sites to use in locating library and information centers in order to best achieve system objectives is modeled as a mixed zero-one linear programming problem and examined in detail. The model incorporates an objective function based on the costs of locating centers and of transmitting information to the users. The…

Representatives from California government, business, industry, and all types of libraries met to discuss interlibrary cooperation and coordination. The addresses presented at the conference and included in these proceedings cover these topics: libraries of the future, major national issues in the development of library networks, library and…

The second draft of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) report proposes a national program to offer the most information service to the greatest number of people. Current status and problems in all kinds of libraries are reviewed, including: distribution of resources; uneven access to information; the influence of…

This report on some of the strategic planning decisions that OCLC has made for the 21st century begins by describing the evolution of OCLC from a pioneer in the computer revolution with its Online Union Catalog and Shared Cataloging System in 1971 to a system that currently has nearly 60 distinct offerings. Corresponding computer and…

The organization and development of scientific and technical libraries in the Soviet Union are natural results of the policy of the Communist Party and the Soviet Government for the intensive economic and cultural development of the country. Soon after the establishment of Soviet power, the libraries of the Supreme Economic Council were formed.…