The University of California Libraries: A Plan for Development (1977)

V. Identification and Location 67
17. An on-line system can change attitudes of both librarians
and users toward library service, since information is made available
so much more rapidly. From a systemwide point of view, it is
also important to note that such a system "serves to change the concept
of library services for library staff and users. Their view of
available materials expands beyond the local collection--and a sense
of interdependence is fostered." 18
The On-Line Data Base. The data base most frequently consulted by
users of the on-line system will consist of catalog records, not only
for monographs but also for serials, cataloged documents, and any
other materials cataloged by the campus libraries. The machinereadable
records themselves will be accumulated from several sources.
By the end of the academic year 1976/77, almost a million machinereadable
records for materials cataloged since 1973 will be available
from previous and current projects of the Universitywide Library
Automation Program, from the computer-produced book catalog project
at UC Santa Cruz, and from computer-produced book catalog supplements
at UC Berkeley and UCLA. Most UC libraries are now using the on-line
technical processing systems described in Chapter VIII to catalog
current materials, and records for the Universitywide data base are
produced automatically as a by-product of these activities. By 1981,
the plan anticipates that all campuses will be cataloging current
materials using such systems, so that the remaining task will be the
conversion to machine-readable form of catalog records for older
materials, and the creation of records for materials which have never
been cataloged. In order for these records to be useful, conversion
must of course be done carefully and with high standards of quality
control, so this task will necessarily proceed on a gradual basis,
concentrating on those materials that are likely to be most in demand.
18 Ruth J. Patrick and John W. Aubry, Guidelines for Evolving a
Governance Structure for a Northern Regional Library System,
University of California, 1975, p. 89.