Computerized book catalogs and their effects on integrated library data processing: Research and progress at the Los Angeles County Public Library

Abstract

Fashions in library catalogs change with current academicadministrative climate, technological advances, and the socioeconomic well-being of a society. Book catalogs were supreme in the rarefied quill pen era. The typewriter, coupled with emerging professionalism, brought card catalogs to full flower. Equipment breakthroughs, the ever- increasing "information explosion," and expanding mass interest in libraries have brought about a revival in catalog experimentation. As systems become more complex, the need for long-range planning grows dramatically. If automatic data processing (ADP) is to be used successfully and selectively, library administrators must increasingly approach individual applications within a framework of integrated data processing.