AUTOMATED CATALOGUING AND RETROSPECTIVE CONVERSION IN THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES OF SPAIN

Library automation in Spain has undergone considerable growth during the 1990s, with the university library sector in particular making efforts to keep up with automation trends. Due to the installation of automated management systems in nearly all universities, the creation of university library networks, and the growing accessibility of automated bibliographic information as well as online information such as CDROM, it can be said that university library automation (as opposed to other library sectors) is becoming well established and is developing in a standardised fashion. It is clear that this standardisation aids interlibrary communication, although there is a considerable amount of ground still to be covered. The exchange of bibliographical information required by the Spanish Library System Law (Reglamento del Sistema Español de Bibliotecas) falls well short of what is really needed. The business of cataloguing and classifying library stock continues to take up a lot of time. If shared cataloguing existed, this time could and should be spent on improving user services. The National Library is still not the figurehead of the Spanish system. In conclusion, there is still an appreciable lack of organisation and, on many occasions, projects are started without the necessary planning.