Brief History Of Library Automation: 1930-1996

Brief History of Library Automation: 1930-1996


     An automated library is one where a computer system is used to manage

one or several of the library's key functions such as acquisitions, serials

control, cataloging, circulation and the public access catalog. When exploring

the history of library automation,  it is possible to return to past centuries

when visionaries well before the computer age created devices to assist with

their book lending systems. Even as far back as 1588, the invention of the

French "Book Wheel" allowed scholars to rotate between books by stepping on a

pedal that turned a book table. Another interesting example was the "Book

Indicator", developed by Albert Cotgreave in 1863. It housed miniature books to

represent books in the library's collection. The miniature books were part of a

design that made it possible to determine if a book was in, out or overdue.

These and many more examples of early ingenuity in library systems exist,

however, this paper will focus on the more recent computer automation beginning

in the early twentieth century.


The Beginnings of Library Automation: 1930-1960

     It could be said that library automation development began in the 1930's

when punch card equipment was implemented for use in library circulation and

acquisitions. During the 30's and early 40's progress on computer systems was

slow which is not surprising, given the Depression and World War II. In 1945,

Vannevar Bush envisioned an automated system that would store information,

including books, personal records and articles. Bush(1945) wrote about a

hypothetical "memex" system which he described as a mechanical library that

would allow a user to view stored information from several different access

points and look at several items simultaneously. His ideas are well known as the

basis for hypertext and mputers for their operations. The first appeared at MIT,

in 1957, with the development of COMIT, managing linguistic computations,

natural language and the ability to search for a particular string of

information. Librarians then moved beyond a vision or idea for the use of

computers, given the technology, they were able make great advances in the use

of computers for library systems. This lead to an explosion of library

automation in the 60's and 70's.


Library Automation Officially is Underway: 1960-1980

     The advancement of technology lead to increases in the use of computers

in libraries. In 1961, a significant invention by both Robert Noyce of Intel and

Jack Kirby of Texas Instruments, working independently, was the integrated

circuit. All the components of an electronic circuit were placed onto a single

"chip" of silicon. This invention of the integrated circuit and newly developed

disk and tape storage devices gave computers the speed, storage and ability

needed for on-line interactive processing and telecommunications. The new

potential for computer use guided one librarian to develop a new indexing

technique. HP. Luhn, in 1961, used a computer to produce the "keyword in

context" or KWIC index for articles appearing in Chemical Abstracts. Although

keyword indexing was not new, it was found to be very suitable for the computer

as it was inexpensive and it presented multiple access points. Through the use

of Luhn's keyword indexing, it was found that librarians had the ability to put

controlled language index terms on the computer.

     By the mid-60's, computers were being used for the production of machine

readable catalog records by the Library of Congress. Between 1965 and 1968, LOC

began the MARC I project, followed quickly by MARC II. MARC was designed as way

of "tagging" bibliographic records using 3-digit numbers to identify fields. For

example, a tag might indicate "ISBN," while another tag indicates "publication

date," and yet another indicates "Library of Congress subject headings" and so

on. In 1974, the MARC II format became the basis of a standard incorporated by

NISO (National Information Standards Organization). This was a This is ONLY a preview of the article. If you would like to view the entire document, you must subscribe to Electronic References. Please register below now!


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