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

V. Identification and Location 71
Boolean search feature and another 100 terminals will have been added,
and the system will be available for users on a 24-hour basis. During
the following two years, additional terminals will be installed, and
the system will then be completed.
Relationship of the On-Line Catalog and the Microfiche File to
Existing Card Catalogs. During the phases described above, the relationship
of the on-line catalog and microfiche file to existing catalogs
will gradually change. During 1978/79 and 1979/80, union catalogs
of records already converted will be published in microfiche form, but
these catalogs will be produced primarily for the purpose of facilitating
greater inter-campus use of materials and expediting inter-campus
loans. Beginning in 1980/81, however, the microfiche register will become
a major bibliographic tool for the library user, and by 1981/82
it will have progressed to the point that campus libraries can rely on
it as a catalog of current materials. By 1984/85, the on-line catalog
will become the primary means of identifying and locating recent materials,
and the microfiche file will then assume the supplementary and
back-up role described earlier. At this point, it is expected that all
campuses will have ceased maintaining card catalogs, using them only for
reference to information not yet in the on-line catalog or the register.
System Components. Several components of the system should be
explained further. The analysis to date indicates that a combination
of several mini-computers will be more cost-effective in supporting
the system than a large, general-purpose computer, and the costs are
estimated on that basis. This approach also has the advantage that
if one computer is down, the others can continue to operate the
system.
Much of the programming needed is either available already, or
can be adapted from existing systems. There are three major types of
programs involved--data base management programs, inquiry or search
programs, and network control programs--and software of each type
already exists. Much will need to be done to integrate these programs
or to "re-implement" them in the UC system, but it is not contemplated
that a completely new on-line system will be developed and
programmed from scratch.