Acquiring a CD‐ROM Public Access Catalog System: Part 1: The Bottom Line May Not Be The Top Priority

In little more than one year, seven vendors have introduced CD‐ROM‐based public access catalog systems. They vary widely in price, features, and performance. Three scenarios are defined, which represent the requirements of libraries of diverse sizes and groupings. For each scenario, prices of CD‐ROM systems are compared for the first and subsequent two years. The features of the systems are also compared in some detail. The prices and descriptions of features reflect the marketplace as of late summer 1987.