Downloads & Free Reading Options - Results

A detailed description of the operating practices of a computerized book-ordering and processing center for the State University of New York (SUNY) and a plan for implementing such a center are presented. The center is designed to receive orders for purchasing books that are prepared by the member libraries, transmitted to the center over communication lines, and issued to vendors by the center. Vendors ship purchased items to the center, the books are processed centrally and then distributed to the ordering libraries. As a byproduct of its need to provide catalog cards for purchased books, the center will naturally accumulate a file of machine-readable catalog data on purchased items which, since it is also natural to record which library purchased the item, can serve in time as the basis for a machine-readable union catalog for the SUNY statewide holdings. Three phases of implementation are described, and the report is organized around this chronological sequence to provide an evolutionary view of what will take place. The first phase focuses on placing the installation in operation. The second phase represents a period of restricted service--full service of specified kinds to a limited number of libraries. Phase III is the full implementation of all services to the entire SUNY network. (Author/SJ)