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Once upon a time (the mid‐1960s) a Cataloging Department had only two major places to obtain catalog cards: the Library of Congress (proofsheets or sets of unit cards) and the H.W. Wilson Company (full sets of cards using the Dewey classification). Thus everyone was filing proofsheets, copying them into card sets, ordering cards from L.C., taking Polaroid pictures of the National Union Catalog, or checking lists of available Wilson cards.

VINE is produced at least four times a year with the object of providing up‐to‐date news of work being done in the automation of library housekeeping processes, principally in the UK. It is edited and substantially written by Tony McSean, Information Officer for Library Automation based in Southampton University Library and supported by a grant from the British Library Research and Development Department. Copyright for VINE articles rests with the British Library Board, but opinions expressed in VINE do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the British Library. The subscription to VINE is £17 per annum and the period runs from January to December.

From this issue onwards all major articles appearing in VINE will include an abstract, and I hope that this will be of use to many readers. I am greatly indebted to Gordon Hynd, Information/Research Assistant in Perth and Kinross District Council's Planning Department for agreeing to undertake the task of preparing the abstracts, often from copy of enormous illegibility and at very short notice.

Automation is no longer an option; it is no longer “if” but “when” and “how”. This book has been written for senior librarians who recognise this, for their line managers to whom the detailed work has been delegated, and for the junior staff, library and clerical, who need to know not only how to operate a system, but why it works as it does.

VINE is produced at least four times a year with the object of providing up‐to‐date news of work being done in the automation of housekeeping processes, principally in the UK. It is produced and substantially written by the Editor who is based at the Polytechnic of Central London and supported by a grant from the British Library Board and opinions expressed in VINE do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the British Library. The subscription for 1985 to VINE is: £24 for UK subscribers, £27 to overseas subscribers (including airmail delivery). Second and subsequent copies to the same address are charged at £25 for UK and £17 for overseas. VINE is available on either paper or microfiche copy and all back issues are available on microfiche.

How can a translator's valuable time be saved by the use of electronic equipment? Modern aids—primarily word processors but also telecopiers, dictation equipment and optical character readers are examined. The translation process is broken down with examples, to establish which components can benefit from equipment available at moderate cost. Production time for supported and solitary translators is compared to establish possible time saving areas. Manual tasks undertaken by translator or secretary gain most from mechanisation but information search is also an important area for savings.

The University of Michigan owns one of the largest collections of ancient papyri. In 1991 a project was initiated to explore image capture of papyri in the Michigan collection with the use of electronic media (scanners), and to create a detailed online catalog with information relevant for all those involved in the study and research of the ancient Mediterranean world. In the summer of 1994, the Michigan papyrus collection underwent an extensive period of testing alternative media for image capture, as well as better, faster, and more efficient hardware and software. The collection created its own home page on the World Wide Web and made available sample images as a means of soliciting comments from the experts in the field of papyrology. The papyrus collection at Duke University has also launched a project similar to that envisioned by Michigan in 1991; and that project is now approaching completion. Further developments in the past two years have brought together the five largest papyrus collections in the United States to form a consortium known as the Advanced Papyrological Information System (APIS), which operates under the guidance of the American Society of Papyrologists (ASP).

Data General and Datawest Computer services will be providing a computerised scoring service for this year's Admiral's Cup series of races, organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC), which include the Fastnet Race (605 miles) on 8 August. The system will comprise a minicomputer plus printers and displays located first at the RORC headquarters in Cowes and then in the RORC race office at the Royal Western Yacht Club at Plymouth. Additionally Data General will be providing selected up‐to‐date results information to Prestel. It is anticipated that Cefax and Oracle services will pick up this service too. In the event of storm, coastguard stations will be able to find out a yacht's latest reported position by means of telex links to the computer output.

This paper tries to identify the extent of adoption and utility of Greenstone Digital Library Software (GDLS) in Persian language in Iran. What are the powerful capabilities and features of Greenstone and what about its programming bugs and errors toward information retrieval and storage in Persian language?

The study adopted evaluative survey and direct observation through nine spectrums checklist based on Greenstone capabilities and features. Then viewpoints of computer and library and information science (LIS) specialists obtained and analyzed. After that, a digital Persian collection has been designed with Greenstone and analyzed. A statistical analysis scheme was employed to evaluate the software.

The study obtained the following conclusions: there is similar consensus about GSLS effectiveness and capabilities between researcher and specialists. There is a lack of experts in Perl and Java programming language for upgrading of software in Iran. Further, software infrastructure especially in the interaction, support of standards and metadata features is powerful. Relatively poor user interface, incomplete sorting of Persian alphabet for “” characters, immature Unicode support like KWIC (or phind) index are some outstanding bugs.

The absence of complete and huge Persian digital library based on Greenstone was one of the major constraints of survey.

If national entity supports localization of Greenstone, it will be a suitable solution for Persian digital library. Using Greenstone in the absence of financial resource for commercial software is a good choice.

Using Greenstone to support digital libraries is a new trend as open source digital library solution in Iran for Persian language. This study can not only be a starting point for further discussions on the localization of open source digital library software, but also be applied to other researches.