215Libraries will play a key . role in providing access to data bases, but not by subscribing to tape services and establishing local processing centers as is commonly assumed. High costs and the nature of the demand will make this approach unfeasible. It is more likely that the library~s reference staff will develop the capability of serving as a broker between the local campus user and the various regional or specialized retail distribution centers which exist or will be established.This brief paper will attempt to counter the widely held view that the larger research libraries will soon need to begin subscribing to the growing number of data bases in machine-readable form and providing current awareness and other services from them for their local users. 0 It will speculate on how this field might develop and will suggest a less expensive and more feasible strategy which libraries may use to gain access to these increasingly important bibliographic services. The key question of who will pay for these new services, the user or the institution, will also be discussed.While it is clearly outside the scope of this paper to review the state-of-

Recent developments in the USA have favoured decentralized networks rather than centralized resource libraries. US libraries have virtually no central planning or funding and the main drive towards progress is the initiative of individual libraries. This has created in the last ten years three major computer utilities — OCLC, RLG, WLN — and some twenty regional networks. OCLC is now in effect a commercial enterprise. Its shared cataloguing system can serve as an on‐line union catalogue; this has led to the development of an interlibrary loan subsystem which has increased the volume and changed the pattern of interlending. RLG and WLN have highly developed computer systems, but it is too early to assess their impact on inter/ending. These computer networks would be complemented, not duplicated by central resource libraries; with the National Periodicals Center effectively shelved, the Center for Research Libraries could take on a more dynamic role. Commercial vendors are often overlooked, but are an important element in document delivery systems. They are completely outside conventional library systems and might cream off the profitable end of the document supply market.

The first partof this paper considers three general approaches to the development of an automation system in a large research library. The library may decide simply to wait for developments; it may attempt to develop a total or integrated system from the start; or it may adopt an evolutionary approach leading to an integrated system. Oustside consultants, it is suggested, will become increasingly important. The second part of the paper deals with important elements in any program regardless of the approach. These include the building of a capability to do automation work, staffing, equipment, organizational structure, selection of projects, and costs.

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