Library networks: Cataloging and bibliographic aspects

In The Future of the Research Library, Verner Clapp comments on the "two principles which have controlled the growth of libraries the principle of local self-sufficiency and the principle of sharing the resources." 1 It is becoming increasingly clear, however, that adherence to the principle of self-sufficiency is no longer economically feasible or rationally desirable for libraries. Pragmatic problems of spiralling costs of labor and material, physical problems of space, and intellectual concern over bibliographic control of the burgeoning information explosion all play their part in contributing to the demise of such an insular concept. Sharing in the guise of cooperation, centralization, regionalization is the "in" concept of the day. This concept is not new; shared resources through interlibrary loan, centralized cataloging through LC, and regional systems through state and other agencies have existed at varying levels for many years. Serendipitous development of such programs, however, no longer seems sufficient and the rapid growth of new technologies has given impetus to the development of the more sophisticated concept of networks. The computer, graphic display techniques, TWX hook-ups, and facsimile transmission all portend far more encompassing cooperative ventures than heretofore envisioned.published or submitted for publicatio