A study was made to establish the patterns in past library automation development activities within the Federal Government of the United States so that these could be available for setting the boundaries for a generalized system design for computerized library operations. More than 50 administrative and technical personnel within the Federal library community were interviewed, and information was compiled on 28 libraries and information centers among eight of the Executive Departments and four Independent Agencies. Pictures of both the technical and administrative sides of library operation were built up. These pictures were used to form a composite overview of technological movements within the Federal Government toward library automation, and the forces acting as constraints on such movements. Few strongly cohesive trends in automation were found among the library and information activities of specific agencies. But, in spite of this, it appeared that generic automated systems with broad parametric application to both technical and administrative considerations could be devised. Appended to the report are (1) supplemental materials on methodology and (2) data summaries, backing up the discussions on data reduction and analysis. Some fourteen Case Reports prepared during the study are published as separate volumes. (JH)