Discusses strategies for research libraries to meet current demands and limitations through networks and resource sharing. Explored in terms of their importance to research library development are OCLC, the Research Libraries Group and their networks, the concept of a central resources pool, and the impact of the information industry. (SW)

Major trends in library technology and technology in general, as indicated by information gathered through internal development work at the Dallas Public Library, professional readings, and interviews with experts, are discussed. Trends covered are: (1) internal library services focusing on a total systems approach to library automation; (2)…

Presents a model for predicting and shaping the impact of information technologies on libraries and the library role which is based on the effects of computerization in various business applications. The library network at AT&T Bell Laboratories is described as an example of a successful implementation of the model. (CLB)

Over the past 10 years, many changes have affected the roles of librarians and other professionals in research libraries. The changes have been caused, in part, by technological advances, reorganizations, more focus on libraries as learning organizations, the use of teams and team-based approaches to tasks, and a recognition of diversity's…

Edited text of the proceedings on the Communications Act conducted by the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA), in which representatives from the library community engaged in dialogue with staff from the House Subcommittee responsible for rewriting the Communications Act. (CWM)

This paper is based on two fundamental premises: (1) that the characteristics inherent in information (reproductivity, volatility, and value) combined with the technical capability provided by the new information technology (access, storage, communication, and control) have created the prospect of a new range of internal and external networking…

Librarians' work has become more challenging and complex over the past 15 years. Fifteen years ago, the telephone was a librarian's most used and most effective instrument, and librarians mostly relied on the resources within their own walls. In that era, resource sharing placed substantial burdens on larger libraries, and the resources of smaller…

Forecasts of the future of the public library highlight measures of success (quick information provision); service to remote users; an information infrastructure which includes smaller branch libraries; levels of service based on staff time required; fee-based, interactive research services; a new job title of "information specialist"; and book…

The future role of libraries will develop as a consequence of social, technological, political, economic, and educational factors that are evident today, including: (1) the development of an information society and the question of paper versus paperless means of transmitting information; (2) the growing use of micrographics, telecommunications,…

Sketches the role of computerized library networking in the electronic library of the future and discusses briefly the likely effects of changes in methods of communication on the various social systems in which libraries interact. Accompanying the text are four figures and a 13-item reference list. (Author/JL)

Argues that reference services will not only survive changes brought about by new technologies, but will be improved and enhanced as a result. Examples given include online public access catalogs, automated record-keeping operations, CD-ROM as an information storage medium, the continuing need for intermediaries in online searching, and copyright…

The purpose of this study is to look at how the academic library systems office (i.e., an entity or group of entities within a library whose purpose is to oversee the hardware and software systems functions within its electronic automated processes and services for the use of the staff and public) in Ohio has evolved to become a library-wide…

Describes the growth and linkage of computer and communication technologies in academic libraries, and suggests that librarians should assume a militant role in dealing with information issues, including: the library's role in relation to the individual scholar and the university's information environment; costs and budgets; and information as a…

Examines changes in behavioral science education in light of four trends identified in John Naisbitt's "Megatrends": high tech/high touch phenomenon; continuing need to reconceptualize purposes; growth of self-help skills; and concern with more and effective networking. Appropriate library responses to these trends are suggested. An…

Challenging popular prognostications and asserting that the complex mix of technologies projects suggests no clear path to the future, this book offers an alternative model to a simplistic digital future. The book is divided into four main parts. Chapters in the first part, "Being Analog," consider the need to get over the digital…