THE EVOLUTION OF A RETROCONVERSION: An interim report on Edinburgh University Library's retrospective catalogue conversion

Edinburgh University Library is a classic example of distributed data, distributed processing, and distributed service, until 1982 all in manual form. It is dispersed, with the University, over several square miles in the centre and south of the city. The Main Library in George Square houses the central administration, the Arts and Social Sciences collections, the main Undergraduate Reading Room, the Special Collections, the Map collection, the main Reference and Statistical Reference collection, other archives, collections, and special processing and service units such as the Bindery and the Photographic Department. There are also major collections in New College Theological Library, the Medical Libraries, the Science Libraries on the Kings Buildings campus, the Law and Centre for European Government libraries, the Music library and the Veterinary libraries. All of these are professionally staffed, and professional library work (selection, acquisition, cataloguing and classification, reader services etc) is carried out there. Greater co‐ordination is being achieved since ‘the cuts and automation’ is seen as an instrument for further beneficial rationalization and co‐operation in improved services. There are also numerous class and departmental libraries of varying size, some of which the University Library controls and supports, some of which it merely advises and helps as best it can. Altogether the stock is thought to comprise between one and a half million and two million items, but this includes approximately half a million un‐catalogued items in Special Collections and New College.