On-line technology in a library network

The advantages of computers in libraries, although not a supposition which one can afford to accept blindly, are as real as the advantages gained from the other pieces of mechanical equipment which have become everyday tools for accomplishing libraries' objectives. A major difference, however, is that a library's investment in computers, attendant staff, supplies, etc., is so much greater in terms of time, money, and energy, and in general commitment to examine minutely the operations the computer is to perform, that the comparison with other machines seems less valid. It is not a crisis if a system planned around a tape-operated typewriter does not work and one is forced to return to a more traditional method. The situations are similar in that it is not necessarily the technology at fault, but perhaps the technique. One might call the problem "The fault, dear Brutus, . . . syndrome."published or submitted for publicatio