Suggests guidelines to help libraries formalize their electronic reference services. Covers the following issues: administration/management (library division/department, library administration, campus administration, academic departments); services; primary clientele; personnel; infrastructure/facilities; finances; and evaluation. (AEF)

Discusses multitype library cooperation in South Dakota, including a statewide automated network that supports library operations and contains periodical indexes; state library activities that include providing service to rural libraries via the Internet as well as library staff training; and school library projects. (LRW)

Describes staff involvement in the implementation of two successive online systems for library technical processes and searching in the University of Pennsylvania Library. It contrasts their response by considering some system features and the environments into which they were introduced. (Author/RAA)

A project was conducted from 1980 to 1982 to determine the costs and benefits of OCLC use in 29 small and medium-sized member libraries of the Illinois Valley Library System (IVLS). Academic, school, public, and special libraries participated by recording the time and staffing levels used for and the cost of OCLC and pre-OCLC cataloging (by…

Online database searching experiences of nine Illinois public libraries--Arlington Heights, Deerfield, Elk Grove Village, Evanston, Glenview, Northbrook, Schaumburg Township, Waukegan, Wilmette--are discussed, noting search costs, user charges, popular databases, library acquisition, interaction with users, and staff training. Three sources are…

This report describes the Texas State Library Communications Network (TSLCN), which provides interlibrary loan (ILL) services to Texas public, special, and academic libraries. TSLCN is described as a network of ten regional referral centers, operated by means of contracts with major resource center (MRC) libraries, with the entire system under the…

This essay defines traditional library technical services (acquisition, cataloging, processing, circulation control) and addresses questions concerning impact of automation on future of these services in following areas: professional and paraprofessional staff, reorganization, relationship between technical services and other areas of library,…

A project was conducted from 1980 to 1982 to determine the costs and benefits of OCLC use in 29 small and medium-sized member libraries of the Illinois Valley Library System (IVLS). Academic, school, public, and special libraries participated in the project. Based on written attitude surveys of and interviews with library directors, staff,…

Quality in library technical services is explored in light of changes produced by automation. Highlights include a definition of quality; new opportunities and shifting priorities; cataloging (fullness of records, heading consistency, accountability, local standards, automated checking); need for new skills (management, staff); and boons of…

After a brief historical review, various aspects of the conversion from card or book catalog to computer output microform (COM) catalog are analyzed, including initial commitments, database management, bibliographic control, costs, and relations with vendors. Outlines of primary decision-making stages are provided. (Author/JL)

Discussion of CD-ROM as an alternative to online searching for academic libraries focuses on a comparison between online and CD-ROM costs at the University of Natal (South Africa) library. Other factors examined include funding methods; user fees; staff involvement; user training; user access, including search intermediaries and networking; and…

Discussion of CD-ROM networking using local area networks (LANs) in libraries focuses on the design and implementation of a public use CD-ROM network at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The use of LANtastic is described, enlarging the network allowing access from remote locations is explained, and personnel requirements are…

Cost estimates provided by cataloging vendors during January 1981 are analyzed to identify the costs of catalog conversion options and alternatives to the card catalog for six Minnesota regional library systems. Following an executive summary of the study is a discussion of its background, scope, objectives, data gathering methodology, and…

These four papers presented at the Polytechnic of Central London School of Management focus on the management of technical innovation in libraries as it affects decision making, library organization, non-systems staff, and interlibrary cooperation. Procedures for implementing automation in a library are outlined: a system analysis and costing of…

Describes the operations of Winthrop College Library, Rock Hill, South Carolina, to illustrate the impact of the Southeastern Library Network (SOLINET) on southeastern libraries. The effect of automation on staff requirements of the technical and public services divisions is highlighted. (EJS)