Micros, Minis, Mainframes – What’s a library to do? Available to Purchase

Examines the dilemma of choosing between the computer hardware available due to the ′open system′ concept. States that libraries should adopt the concept of service‐level agreements defining clearly specified and measurable metrics, and the minimum levels of acceptable computing services. Summarizes the recent developments in mainframe architecture,especially the advent of optical storage and the ′hot topic′ of automated operations.