The truest meaning of public service was that, although never used by all citizens, it was still available for any citizen. Whether public service in America can survive in the next decade, and maintain its basic altruistic concepts, will be the concern of all librarians. (Author/NH)

This paper describes how the applications of technology to library functions generally follow the three-phase pattern set by business. In phase one, technology is applied to the automation of manual procedures in order to save time and/or money. Phase two involves the use of technology for non-traditional, innovative approaches to traditional…

The Library Technology Program is an attempt to meet one of the great challenges to improved library service -- the application of new technology to library operations. (20 references) (SJ)

Four speeches are presented, each of which deals with the use of conputers to organize and retrieve news stories. The first speech relates in detail the step-by-step process devised by the "Free Press" in Detroit to analyze, categorize, code, film, process, and retrieve news stories through the use of the electronic film retrieval…

This booklet, one of a series of background papers for the White House Conference, explores the potential of new technologies to improve library services while reducing library costs. Separate subsections describe the application of technology to the following library functions: acquisitions, catalogs and cataloging, serials control, circulation…

The introduction to this addendum (the Action Plan is LI 004 521) discusses the present use by libraries of information-handling technology and identifies some of the trends taking place in performing essential library services. While some limited inroads have been made in automating certain public library functions, the bulk of services is still…

Under funding from the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Library Research of the University of California (Los Angeles) has carried out a study of mechanized information services in the university library" The basic premise of the study is that magnetic tape data bases are becoming available from a variety of national sources and that…

Three articles examine the effects technology is having on academic library reference services and bibliographic instruction. Highlights include discussions of current and future reference librarian roles, specifically the "human touch" aspect of reference; and examples of reference services undergoing technological advancement and those that have…

An annual report for 1974-75 is presented by the Council on Library Resources (CLR) which was established in 1956, with funds from the Ford Foundation, to help provide solutions to significant library problems through directly administered programs, grants, and contracts with organizations and individuals. Described are CLR-supported activities in…

Recognizing that the major technical direction of this decade is toward proximity of computing function to its users, the Research Libraries Group (RLG) is moving to distribute its processing capabilities. The goals of this study were to formulate an architecture for an RLG distributed system, to identify pre-existing components appropriate for…

This self-study by the public services staff of Brown University Library provided an opportunity for them to examine past, present, and future operations. The study was conducted by 33 volunteers from the library staff, who were organized into 1 study team and 5 task forces; they worked more than 14 months to develop the recommendations and plans…

This document contains the full transcript of a 2-day workshop on library automation. The first day of the workshop was devoted to a review of the state-of-the-art of library automation and the second day included presentation of testimony by Maine librarians. The transcript of the first day includes discussions of the historical development of…

A teacher's guide for a course designed to provide library administrators with an understanding of the issues and techniques of library automation contains suggestions for conduct of the course and projects for student participation. The eight units of the course cover librarians and automation, computer technology, systems analysis and…

The application of technology to libraries, possible library systems of the future, and problems of effecting a transition between the present and the future are examined. The report identifies a series of recognized or assumed service and operations requirements, surveys major technologies applicable to libraries, and reviews current and planned…