Discusses the public library's movement toward consolidation/cooperation with other libraries and the administrative, fiscal, and service implications of such a system. Incorporation of the public library into the national information network as a multitype or unitype system is examined through a review of multitype systems in New York and…

Describes the technical, political, economic, and cultural environments of library automation. A review is then presented of five books covering wide-ranging library automation themes, including practical experiences; planning second-generation library systems; software, systems, and services; new roles for librarians; and the national network…

Prior to 1997, the University of Oxford in Great Britain had approximately one hundred autonomous libraries with little coordination of services, collection development, or management among them. In that year a new director was hired with the mandate to integrate many of these libraries into one centralized system. Over the past seven years…