Networks as a tangible prospect are matched by resource sharing as a topic of current interest in librarianship. Organisational developments have emerged and attention has been…
Abstract
Networks as a tangible prospect are matched by resource sharing as a topic of current interest in librarianship. Organisational developments have emerged and attention has been paid to these over several years. In North America the debate has been serious and systematic as outlined in representative papers at the Aslib Conference of September 1977. The development and aims of the UNISIST and NATIS programmes of Unesco indicate considerable international commitment to the two “imagos” of progress. The two concepts are not independent and are particularly intertwined when automation is drawn in for synthesis. Other technologies—microforms, photocopying, near‐print processes, AV equipment, compact shelving and telex—are also playing a part in modern developments in librarianship and some have roles in network activities. The computer however, introduces a particularly dynamic inducement to large‐scale changes in the way of comprehensive and co‐ordinated information policy. Stevens points this up with a definition of a library network as “a formal organization of three or more autonomous organizations inter‐connected to achieve their common purposes through the joint use of communications and computer technology”. Of the common purposes which individual libraries and consortia alike aim to pursue access to information and materials is crucial and automation of bibliographic services should be the means of achieving it most directly.
D.G.R. Buckle, S.W. Massil, A.R. Hall and D.J. Wilkins
The period that this report covers has been one of considerable achievement. The aim of the Birmingham Libraries' Co‐operative Mechanisation Project (BLCMP) has been to design and…
Abstract
The period that this report covers has been one of considerable achievement. The aim of the Birmingham Libraries' Co‐operative Mechanisation Project (BLCMP) has been to design and develop a system to utilise centrally produced machine‐readable bibliographic records in the MARC format in local situations, and to assess the practicability of a regional data bank, accessible to a number of libraries, using these records and records produced locally.
The Malaysian MARC (MALMARC) Project, which is one of five cooperative programmes involving the five university libraries and the National Library of Malaysia, constitutes one of…
Abstract
The Malaysian MARC (MALMARC) Project, which is one of five cooperative programmes involving the five university libraries and the National Library of Malaysia, constitutes one of the components of the developing Malaysian Research Library Network. The Project began in October 1977 as an experiment as a result of a feasibility study, and became an operational system in July 1979. During the experimental period, costing studies were undertaken and these revealed that for all the participating institutions, an automated cataloguing system was cheaper than the manual system. The MALMARC system is currently being operated by the MALMARC Coordinating Centre at the Universiti Sains Malaysia. Details of the system together with flowcharts are provided. The human and technical problems encountered are also discussed and this article concludes with a brief outline of future developments.
E.H.C. Driver, D.G.R. Buckle, S.W. Massil, D.J. Wilkins and A.R. Hall
The Birmingham Libraries Cooperative Mechanisation Project (BLCMP) was formed by the libraries of the universities of Aston and Birmingham, and Birmingham Public Libraries, to…
Abstract
The Birmingham Libraries Cooperative Mechanisation Project (BLCMP) was formed by the libraries of the universities of Aston and Birmingham, and Birmingham Public Libraries, to investigate the feasibility of cooperation in the use of MARC records. A general introduction to the aims and history of the Project are contained in previous reports in Program, Vol.3,nos.2 and 3/4, 1969, and Vol.4, no.4, 1970.
This paper takes up a question raised by Edward Lim in an article on the MALMARC Project in the issue of July 1980 regarding the place of advanced technology in the libraries of…
Abstract
This paper takes up a question raised by Edward Lim in an article on the MALMARC Project in the issue of July 1980 regarding the place of advanced technology in the libraries of developing countries where labour is cheap and plentiful. Advances in Malaysia show that some developing countries are more developed than others and that the achievements of the Project confirm that it is appropriate to introduce computers into library work there. The main question remains however, the appropriateness of advanced information systems in developing countries and what standing libraries might have in contributing to the development process where ‘information’ about information could be considered even more important than some of the fields where great effort has long been directed to ‘development’. The paper suggest some areas where library staff ‘displaced’ by automation might best serve in a developing country while libraries themselves attempt to make best use of technological developments available; these should be ‘internalised’ to give the country the best benefit of new advances.
The Seminar on Library Interior Layout and Design organised by IFLA's Section on Library Buildings and Equipment, and attended by people from over twenty‐two countries, was held…
Abstract
The Seminar on Library Interior Layout and Design organised by IFLA's Section on Library Buildings and Equipment, and attended by people from over twenty‐two countries, was held at Frederiksdal, Denmark, in June 1980. This present article neither reports on the Seminar's proceedings, as it is hoped to publish the papers in due course, nor describes fully the Danish public libraries seen, but rather uses the Seminar's theme and the library visits as a point of departure for considering some aspects of the interior layout—the landscape—of public libraries. Brief details of the new Danish public libraries visited are given in a table at the end of the article.
The most obvious symptom of the most obvious trend in the building of new libraries is the fact that, as yet, no spade has entered the ground of the site on Euston Road, London…
Abstract
The most obvious symptom of the most obvious trend in the building of new libraries is the fact that, as yet, no spade has entered the ground of the site on Euston Road, London, upon which the new building for the British Library Reference Division has to be erected. Some twenty years of continued negotiation and discussion finally resulted in the choice of this site. The UK and much more of the world awaits with anticipation what could and should be the major building library of the twentieth century. The planning and design of a library building, however large or small, is, relatively speaking, a major operation, and deserves time, care and patience if the best results are to be produced.
The nature and purpose of the catalogue has been the focus of considerable and vigorous debate during the past decade. This article attempts to identify those topics which have…
Abstract
The nature and purpose of the catalogue has been the focus of considerable and vigorous debate during the past decade. This article attempts to identify those topics which have been the most significant causes of the debate and discusses: the need for catalogues; users and non‐users; the nature of the bibliographic record and catalogue entry; the development of UK and LC MARC; standards, including exchange formats, the development of the ISBD, and the concept of UBC (Universal Bibliographic Control); the Anglo‐American Cataloguing Rules and the controversy over the implementation of AACR2; COM catalogues; subsets of the MARC record; co‐operatives, networks and resource sharing; and the development of subject access methods better suited to COM and online catalogues. The relevance of catalogue research activities at Bath University and elsewhere is highlighted.
The work of the OSTI‐supported library housekeeping automation projects at the British National Bibliography, the University Libraries of Loughborough, Southampton, Oxford…
Abstract
The work of the OSTI‐supported library housekeeping automation projects at the British National Bibliography, the University Libraries of Loughborough, Southampton, Oxford, Surrey, Lancaster, and Bath, and in the Birmingham Libraries' Cooperative Mechanisation Project and the South West University Libraries Systems Cooperative Project is described, and the state of progress of each as at Summer 1973 is indicated.
VINE is produced at least four times a year with the object of providing up‐to‐date news of work being done in the automation of library housekeeping processes, principally in the…
Abstract
VINE is produced at least four times a year with the object of providing up‐to‐date news of work being done in the automation of library housekeeping processes, principally in the UK. It is edited and substantially written by Tony McSean, Information Officer for Library Automation based in Southampton University Library and supported by a grant from the British Library Research and Development Department. Copyright for VINE articles rests with the British Library Board, but opinions expressed in VINE do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the British Library. The subscription to VINE is £17 per annum and the period runs from January to December.