CARD DATALOG FOR SMALLER LIBRARIES: AN OVERVIEW Available to Purchase

As the previous issue of VINE revealed, one of the fastest growing areas in the present library systems market is in the supply of housekeeping packages for the small to medium size library. Not only is the number of packages increasing but a relatively high proportion has modules covering all housekeeping areas, namely acquisitions, cataloguing, circulation control and serials; some, too, have additional features such as OPAC, interfaces to external systems for record downloading and supply, and interlibrary loans. A recent incomer to the UK market is DTI (Data Trek Inc) with its Card Datalog system. This system originates in the US where it has acquired around 600 sites since its launch in 1981; more recently it has been introduced in the Republic of Ireland where there are 5 installations. In the UK, it currently has one live site, namely the College of Distributed Trades in central London.