New Hampshire: The automated information system

The New Hampshire library community has been involved with statewide multi‐library automation and connectivity initiatives since 1982. In that year, the New Hampshire Library Association appointed an automation task force to look into the possibility of automating the union catalog maintained by the New Hampshire State Library. The task force also recognized the more general objective of strengthening cooperation and communication among New Hampshire libraries. This objective has remained the guiding principle for statewide automation initiatives ever since. Based on the recommendations of the task force, the state legislature enacted legislation in 1983 to establish an automated data processing and information retrieval system and a statewide information network. The system came to be known as the New Hampshire Automated Information System (NHAIS).