Describes the emphasis of decision support systems as being on the decision making process itself, rather than the flow of information; reviews the uses of microcomputers in libraries in recent years; and compares five decision modeling software packages. An appendix lists the name, manufacturer's address, price, and hardware requirements of each…

Stresses the importance of clearly establishing goals for and level of services to be offered by academic library microcomputer centers when determining staff requirements. Questions to be considered when developing goals and a profile of the majority of tasks involved in center operation provide some guidelines for the planning process. (EM)

Focusing on management decisions in academic libraries, this article compares management information systems (MIS) with decision support systems (DSS) and discusses the decision-making process, information needs of library managers, sources of data, reasons for choosing microcomputer, preprogrammed application software, prototyping a system, and…