The technology of the 21st century has had no shortage of challenges for libraries, but it has also brought opportunities. Operating systems, databases, and application environments that can use cheap off-the-shelf hardware to scale and handle hundreds of millions of transactions were not developed for libraries. However, libraries have taken…

Bill Schickling has spent a good chunk of his professional life at what is now Polaris Library Systems, shaping both the older Galaxy system and the newer Polaris integrated library system (ILS). When he joined the company as a programmer in 1987, it was still part of Gaylord, known mostly for its furniture and supplies division. Schickling was…

Purpose: To describe the development of the library management system, e-Granthalaya, for public libraries in India. This is an initiative of the Indian government's National Informatics Centre (NIC). The paper outlines the challenges and the potential of a full-scale deployment of this software at a national level. Design/methodology/approach:…

Activities in 2006 pointed to strategic shifts in library automation. The dynamics of the business environment changed rapidly from a fragmented industry to a highly consolidated one. Though the integrated library system (ILS) continues to represent the largest portion of revenue, products that deal with electronic content and deliver better…

A study of the Oklahoma Teletypewriter Interlibrary System (OTIS), made at the request of the Oklahoma Department of Libraries, covers the period April 1968 through June 1969. It is based upon an analysis of records maintained at the Oklahoma Department of Libraries including: (1) what material was requested by what library, how the requests were…

This booklet contains listings for California's 15 cooperative library systems and three single-jurisdiction library systems organized under the California Library Services Act (CLSA), as well as listings for the regional reference centers or networks serving more than one system which were organized as demonstration projects under the federal…

Discusses information gained from a test of cable data circuits on a Geac bibliographic control system at the Wayne Oakland Library Federation (WOLF) (Michigan). Highlights include an introduction to cable, hardware profile, the WOLF experience, and key questions that will affect the future use of cable for data transmission. (EJS)

This examination of the problems and opportunities of system organization from the viewpoint of public libraries provides a perspective on the growth of library networks, their administration, and the pressures that opposed their development in the 1970's. It identifies the requirements for their further development, and looks at the need for new…

Edited version of an address delivered at Institute on Public Library Management (12th, Madison, Wisconsin, April 26, 1968). The library network has not developed because the public has not recognized its potential usefulness. It can provide a new level of service if the value is not nullified by bureaucratic rigidity. (JS)

The IRVING Library Network provides state-of-the-art design, using a distributed packet switched network which implements parts of the Open System Interconnection Reference Model as defined by International Standards Organization. It provides gateway to other networks without disturbing local host systems and creates network language. Glossary and…

Provides description of the initial creation of a regional union catalog containing 600,000 unique titles and 1.8 million physical items, the conversion of this database to interactive laserdisc, and the resultant advantages. Updates, costs, problems, and the application of laserdisc technology are discussed. (EJS)

This feasibility study was conducted to (1) estimate the alternative costs in 1980 Canadian dollars of using four bibliographic utilities to accomplish the retrospective conversion (RECON) of eight British Columbia public libraries' manual card catalog files, (2) make recommendations as to which alternative should be selected and how it should be…

Three major electronic developments have had a profound effect over the last 19 years on the interloan operation of a medium-sized public library system in central New York State: the Gaylord Brothers, Inc. Circulation System; the New York State Interlibrary Loan Network; and the OCLC, Inc.-Interlibrary Loan Subsystem. (EJS)

Describes public library reference service which allows patrons to type out search instructions on a computer terminal, review and select references, and receive, by high-speed printer, facsimile copy of selected periodical articles. Development of periodicals center at main county library and use of self-coaching SEARCH HELPER system are…

Describes automated library network developed when five municipal library systems entered into an equal partnership to create single database and to jointly own a computerized circulation and MARC records system. Highlights include use of microcomputers, the shared circulation system, costs, benefits, governance, equality, stability and financial…