An experimental program placed computer terminals in four San Francisco Bay Area public libraries to be used to provide on-line computer search services to library patrons. The first few months of operation of the experiment showed that there was a significant impact on the participating libraries, on the library patrons, and on the community and…

Children's librarians should analyze the potential of new technologies before they are formalized so that when innovations are implemented, they will have the capabilities to provide for children's departments' internal management needs and improve children's services. Microcomputers, video, and commercial, public, and cable television can be…

Considers the impact of Remote Electronic Access and Delivery of Information (READI) upon library services, discusses the uses of online public access information systems in a library setting, describes videotex systems currently in use, and outlines possibilities for the creation of local databases, automatic borrowing of books, and other…

Presents results of a study on user needs, sources used, and search successes. Illustrates that despite increasing competition from other information sources available to the public--such as consumer media and the Internet--libraries are still a primary source of information and education for the American public. (AEF)

There are five papers in this collection from the Division of Regional Activities: (1) "Communication and Information in Contemporary African Society" (Bimpe Aboyade), which discusses how libraries can make themselves relevant to other institutions concerned with information transfer; (2) "Libraries and Rural Development: Village…

The DIALIB Project was a 3-year experiment that investigated the potential of the public library as a "linking agent" between the public and the many machine-readable data bases currently accessible via the telephone using online terminals. The study investigated the following questions: (1) Is online search of use to the patrons of a…

This is the final report of the evaluation of the DIALIB project--an investigation of the public library as a linking agent to major scientific, educational, social, and environmental data bases. The report is presented in seven sections and four appendices as follows: Section I provides an introduction to the study and a brief summary of the…

The Information Age is being driven by an acceleration of technological breakthroughs including microcomputers, cable television, electronic publishing, fiber optics, satellite communications, videotext, online database searching, high-density CD-ROM storage, and robotics. A new intellectual skill that will enable us to be masters of new…

Effects of computerized systems in libraries are explored in five articles. The first discusses reasons why maintaining a collection of resources is strengthened rather than weakened by the existence of online databases. The remaining four describe the implementation and use of microcomputers in high school, elementary school, and academic…