Imagine the possibilities: Library networking in Australia

Australia is set outside the usually perceived information technology development areas of Europe and North America. Despite this its technology needs are the same as in any other developed country. By reason of its relative isolation, a number of local solutions to needs have been found Lilydale Adventist Academy (LAA) has chosen to build a single platform network, utilising readily available software where possible but integrating it with a fully multimedia library/data system. This has necessitated some very flexible software adaptation, as well as some fairly creative thinking regarding development of the total system and the way it meshes with school functions and connected sister schools. An integrated multimedia electronic library system has so far proved an ideal solution to the challenges of LAA. We also see a fully integrated multimedia system as the way of the future and are presently developing a seamless front end which totally integrates the Internet with our existing materials. Administration difficulties and perhaps a touch of conservatism will see these innovations develop faster at several other sites using the same library software, but the principles remain the same. The key to the system as it is being developed at each site is very much user‐oriented: what does the customer want? how can we provide it in the most available and cost effective manner? The entire process is an attempt to provide data for users in the most useable form, utilising the best of available technology, without letting that technology become an end in itself.