Automation at Loughborough: a Status Report Available to Purchase

The history of the project dates back to 1966, when it was envisaged that this library should develop an automated systems approach. While it was considered highly desirable to participate in automated information retrieval research, the ‘housekeeping’ processes were regarded as a necessary foundation. The aim was to achieve optimal rather than maximal automation, that is, to develop automated systems encompassing the functions of present manual systems, but only when these functions could also be surpassed sufficiently to justify the cost of automation. At the same time, the housekeeping systems were to be viewed as a whole, and appropriate interfaces provided between them so as to provide an integrated series of systems.