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EDITORIAL Starting this edition of VINE on a personal note, I feel I ought to introduce myself as the new 0.S.T.I. Information Officer for Library Automation. I have just completed my Dip.Lib. at the College of Librarianship Wales where I took ‘computer applications in libraries’ as my special option. This course followed a degree at Cambridge, a short spell with National Data Processing Services and a period of training at Cambridge University Library. My interest in library automation stems from the days when I considered how some of the techniques employed by NDPS could be used in a library context. I hope VINE will similarly demonstrate the possibilities of an exchange of ideas between librarianship and automation.

The central computer, situated at Bristol, is a Rank Xerox Data Systems 530 and this will be linked to mini‐computers and terminals in cooperating libraries by Datel 2400 lines. Initially the computer will be used for the circulation system; cataloguing and book order systems will follow without major alteration to the central configuration. The operation of the circulation system for monographs and periodicals, the file structure and control parameters are described in detail. The 22 supplementary facilities are listed in a table, and figures illustrate the equipment, an example of an author/title enquiry, and the loan parameters.

In recent years various articles have described the results of work study exercises in libraries. Smith and Schofield see one of the advantages of these studies as offering inter‐library comparisons. This article is offered as a further contribution towards this end.

In this inevitably personal view, where I have taken documentation to embrace libraries and information centres, services and systems, I propose to stress Research rather than Development—with one exception. Other authors will be considering the application of research results in operational systems of documentation but Herbert Coblans, as a librarian first, would have—and did—welcome the development of automated aid in the basic library processes—to this we shall return.

In the United States the chances of visiting a large industrial or federal library which does not make use of computer terminal capabilities grow increasingly slight. On talking to American librarians it is clear that on‐line computing facilities are regarded, not with feelings of dubiety but as accepted working tools. Their applications include housekeeping activities such as the monitoring of journal acquisition, accession and checking procedures, and the transfer of bibliographic records, in addition to user profile development for current awareness and retrospective searching.

Input methods for circulation systems are considered, with particular attention to the range of checks possible at the time data is being input. The amount of checking possible depends on whether the system is off‐line, on‐line real‐time, or hybrid, although the advent of microprocessors enables extra checking to take place in all these types of system. Examples are given of checks, which can detect hardware malfunctioning and operator error, and can compare information, as it is input, against variable sets of data (e.g., in an on‐line real‐time system, against the number of books on loan to a borrower). A list of points to consider when assessing data collection equipment is given, followed by notes on the three kinds of equipment (ALS, Plessey, Telepen) most widely used in United Kingdom circulation systems. It is noted that there is an increasing range of choice of equipment and software, and that the major consideration when assessing the options must be the individual library's requirements.

The SWALCAP On‐line System became operational in September 1976, providing full Circulation Control facilities. Development of Cataloguing facilities is now in progress. This article describes some of the main technical aspects of the system, including the overall system concept, and the approach taken to software development.

President, Charles S. Goldman, M.P.; Chairman, Charles Bathurst, M.P.; Vice‐Presidents: Christopher Addison, M.D., M.P., Waldorf Astor, M.P., Charles Bathurst, M.P., Hilaire Belloc, Ralph D. Blumenfeld, Lord Blyth, J.P., Colonel Charles E. Cassal, V.D., F.I.C., the Bishop of Chichester, Sir Arthur H. Church, K.C.V.O., M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S., Sir Wm. Earnshaw Cooper, C.I.E., E. Crawshay‐Williams, M.P., Sir Anderson Critchett, Bart., C.V.O., F.R.C.S.E., William Ewart, M.D., F.R.C.P., Lieut.‐Colonel Sir Joseph Fayrer, Bart., M.A., M.D., Sir Alfred D. Fripp, K.C.V.O., C.B., M.B., M.S., Sir Harold Harmsworth, Bart., Arnold F. Hills, Sir Victor Horsley, M.D., F.R.C.S., F.R.S., O. Gutekunst, Sir H. Seymour King, K.C.I.E., M.A., the Duke of Manchester, P.C., Professor Sir Wm. Osler, Bart., M.D., F.R.S., Sir Gilbert Parker, D.C.L., M.P., Sir Wm. Ramsay, K.C.B., LL.D., M.D., F.R.S., Harrington Sainsbury, M.D., F.R.C.P., W. G. Savage, M.D., B.Sc., R. H. Scanes Spicer, M.D., M.R.C.S., the Hon. Lionel Walrond, M.P., Hugh Walsham, M.D., F.R.C.P., Harvey W. Wiley, M.D., Evelyn Wrench.