AUTOMATION IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

The University of London's far‐reaching plan for a new generation of library automation has become a casualty of the UGC's latest round of cuts in funding for universities. A strategy had been developed over recent years to replace the four existing shared systems and to introduce a five to seven year phase of expansion. The integration of all library functions, the provision of online access, and emphasis on resource sharing and a rational approach to library provision in London for the remainder of the century were the main objectives. A distributed network was planned to link all the diverse libraries of the University in a common system, affording online access to shared bibliographic and, where appropriate, shared borrower data. Considerable interest in the scheme was being shown by libraries both at home and abroad.