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New technology continues to have a powerful influence on information provision. The use of mainframe computers for information processing, and online access to them via telecommunications, are well established. Magnetic information stores are being supplemented by video disks. Electronic document delivery is being explored. Microcomputers (either stand‐alone or front‐end) are playing a larger role. New forms of telecommunication link are speeding message transmission.

Recommendations for increased resource sharing between libraries have been emerging from a range of sources in recent years. However, the majority of local library management systems currently in use do not inter‐operate, so resources are fragmented and there is no unified access. The situation is complicated by organisational and business issues. This was the basis for the fifth MODELS (Moving to Distributed Environment for Library Services) workshop, which explored more effective management of access and resource sharing, and the development of a supporting systems framework. The focus was on public library developments and cross‐sectoral cooperation. The paper develops some of the key issues, together with discussion of the emerging MODELS Information Architecture.

A Distributed National Electronic Resource? was the sixth MODELS workshop and one of the largest to date. Around 50 invited participants gathered at the Stakis Hotel in Bath on 5–6 February 1998, to discuss management and access approaches to the growing mass of currently unconnected resources provided by libraries, data centres, archives, subject gateways, electronic journals, clumps and others. We are grateful to Richard Heseltine of University of Hull, for once again chairing a workshop which posed a number of challenging management questions.

The outlook now for the library automation industry is perhaps more positive than at any other time in recent years. At last there are real prospects for change and growth. However, the future role of the library management system is by no means clear, and the challenge which this presents, to suppliers and librarians alike, is the main theme of this contribution.

The MODELS (MOving to Distributed Environments for Library Services) project is based around a series of five workshops. The third of these, “Organising access to printed scholarly material”, proposed a co‐ordinated approach to providing access to a managed, distributed bibliographic resource. This article has two main ambitions: firstly it explores the influential outcomes of the third workshop, and secondly, it places this discussion in the wider MODELS context.

This paper examines why Suffolk County Council Libraries & Heritage decided in 1993 to move to a third generation automated information system in 1995. It reviews the factors which influenced the purchase of the system and it describes in some detail the process of selection. Library users, elected councillors, library and record office staff were present at demonstrations of possible systems and the ways in which their views were collected and analysed are discussed.

This paper examines 10 libraries, from the academic, public and special sectors, all of which have recently purchased a new library management system (LMS). The systems can be described as “third generation” library systems, although some differences are noted and the designation “new generation” library systems is preferred. The aim of the study was to assess the effect the new systems had upon the working practices of the libraries, and to examine in particular whether or not the systems were now delivering the kinds of benefits that would satisfy those who have been critical of the lack of achievement of these LMSs to date. The paper considers the impact of client/server architecture, and examines to what extent librarians and suppliers have taken advantage of developments in the areas of World Wide Web technology. It concludes that the librarians in this sample were first and foremost pragmatists; although relatively new and untried systems were chosen by four of the 10 libraries.

The management of autonomous, heterogeneous network resources and services provides new challenges which libraries are now addressing. This paper outlines an approach based on the construction of broker services which mediate access to resources. It outlines a framework – the MODELS Information Architecture – for thinking about the components of broker services and their logical arrangement. It describes several development projects and services which show how brokers are developing. It uses examples drawn from the serials environment to describe some of the issues. Technologists understand that they must build more stable and unobtrusive media. They must establish more coherent contexts into which the technology may disappear.

Library automation systems in use today reflect a very conservative view of the library as a passive repository, and take little account of the user's needs and of the possibility of dynamic interaction. A review from the standpoint of the management of information services more generally, taking account of new resources and of new communications, suggests a number of places where improvements may be made, especially in involving the users more closely in the design and systems investment stages. Specific proposals are made as a basis for discussion, and to stimulate management thinking about personal development and skills transfer as well as the service technology.

Provides an update on a project at the University of Wales Bangor, reported in an earlier issue, to ensure that books on reading lists are available in the library, that missing books are replaced, and that newer editions are purchased when available. New aspects of the project are described, improving staff co‐operation by interrelating this work with the selection of short‐loan material and improving student access to books by using a course code as an OPAC enquiry. Describes the problems encountered which are likely to be of relevance to other libraries. Compares the overall results with the earlier report showing substantially improved provision as a result of four years of the project.