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Journal of Library Automation

ISSN 0022-2240

Volume 13, Number 2, June 1980

Feature Articles

Mass Storage Technology and File Organization
S. MICHAEL MALINCONICO

The Catalogs of the Future: A Speculative Essay
NORMAN D. STEVENS

1981 and Beyond: Visions and Decisions
PAUL J. FASANA

Checklist for Printing Terminals
SUE TYNER

Communications

OCLC Card Receipts
CAROL TENOPIR AND MARGARET JOHNSON

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Feature Articles

Mass Storage Technology and File Organization (p.77-87)
S. MICHAEL MALINCONICO

The last decade has seen remarkable advances in the sophistication of automated bibliographic control systems. The result has been the establishment of a substantial corpus of experience that may be drawn upon when designing future systems. However, the bases on which this acquired experience rests have been undergoing even more dramatic changes. The result is a tendency to solve problems whose existence is scarcely evident to the devices available to the systems designer today. Since the organization of direct access data files plays a prominent role in determining the efficacy of a bibliographic system, the nature and evolution of direct access mass storage devices are matters of particular concern. This paper attempts to examine assumptions regarding file organizations in the context of available data storage devices and seeks to identify the trends that are in evidence for these devices.

The Catalogs of the Future: A Speculative Essay (p.88-95)
NORMAN D. STEVENS

The foundations of the card catalog, catalog use studies, and what we can conjecture about user needs suggest that the catalogs of the future as they are made possible through the manipulation of machine-based bibliographic records, ought not to take a single format. This article proposes that there might be three levels (librarian's, general user's, individual user's) of varying form and size to meet the needs of different levels of use and types of users.

1981 and Beyond: Visions and Decisions (p.96-107)
PAUL J. FASANA

Library managers are currently confronted with a dynamic environment in which they are attempting simultaneously to plan library services and systems for the future, and to control the rate and direction of change. Among the many factors influencing the librarian's decision process, the following three are perhaps the most significant: (1) AACR2; (2) LC's decision to close its catalog; and (3) the emerging national network. The author describes the impact these factors are having on three "visions": (1) the ideal bibliographic system; (2) the on-line catalog; and (3) the "all-purpose" national library network.

Checklist for Printing Terminals (p.108-118)
SUE TYNER

As libraries become more concerned with automation, their need to acquire terminals becomes more common. This checklist is intended to highlight major areas of concern, explain some terminology often found in vendor brochures, and serve as a guide to the novice terminal acquirer. The focus of the checklist is for printing terminals, although some features such as the keyboard acoustic coupler, line communications, reliability, warranty, and maintenance are applicable to both printing terminals and cathode ray tube (CRT) terminals. User requirements, obtaining a terminal, installation, and cost are also addressed.

Communications

OCLC Card Receipts (p.136-138)
CAROL TENOPIR AND MARGARET JOHNSON

(no abstract available)

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