The design, development and introduction of the Harwell Library online ordering and cataloguing system — LIBCAT

The transfer from a manual ordering system and an associated card catalogue to an online, STATUS‐based ordering and cataloguing system, LIBCAT, is described. The LIBCAT database is held on the Harwell IBM mainframe and so is accessible to any user of this mainframe. This paper describes the change and choice of equipment; the design, structure, housekeeping and data input systems for LIBCAT and benefits from the system culminating in the release of LIBCAT for public access.