THE SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION-AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION/LIBRARY TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM SURVEY OF LIBRARY AUTOMATION ACTIVITIES: A SUMMARY REVIEW

Before one can determine the extent of progress in a field, it is necessary to have a baseline to describe the situation at a particular point in time. For library mechanization in mid- 1966, this need has largely been filled by the Survey under review. The SLA-ALA/LTP Survey ^ was a unique undertaking in several respects; it combined the skills of one SLA Division's members, the financial resources of an ALA project, and the mailing lists of a third documentation association and a veteran library publisher. It appeared at about the time when a new ALA Division was born (Information Sciences and Automation), when another ALA Division was searching for a listing of book catalog projects, when at least one state needed an inventory of library mechanization activities (Texas), when SLA annual convention sessions were being increasingly devoted to the subject (even including the Museum Division), when special interest groups on the subject were evolving in the American Documentatio