The Public Library as an Information Dissemination Center: An Experiment in Information Retrieval Services for the General Public

Abstract

A decade ago, on-line access to large bibliographic data bases was restricted to large governmental organizations that had the financial assets needed to prepare large data bases and to access them in an efficient manner. As a result of reduced computer and communications costs, this access broadened to industrial users and to universities over the past several years' and now, finally, an experiment is being conducted which brings such access directly to the public through the public library system. If the use of on-line services for reference retrieval is to continue to grow, the next potential user group is the general public who, in fact, paid for much of the creation of these data bases through taxes. It is appropriate that an attempt be made to allow the general public to benefit from the vast research and development expenditures of the 1960s through convenient computer access to these files of bibliographic material. The first part of this paper summarizes the experi- ment to date; the second part provides individualized insight into its operation through the eyes of one of the participating librarians in the study.