UNION CATALOGUE AUTOMATION AT THE BRITISH LIBRARY LENDING DIVISION

Aware of both the opportunities for automation of its union catalogues and of the problems posed by a potential shift to uncontrolled direct interlending stimulated by the growth of the co‐operatives' shared cataloguing databases, the British Library set up an Ad hoc Working Party on Union Catalogues, which reported in April. A strategy of interlending catalogue provision is proposed that has as its main elements a Union Finding List of Foreign Language Monographs on COM, a Lending Division monograph stock catalogue, on COM and on‐line, and the Combined Regional Locations List enhanced with Lending Division stock. Work is under way to choose a system capable of supporting these catalogues as well as the acquisition, cataloguing and request checking activities of the Division. The first phases of operation are scheduled for 1984.