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Companies that supply libraries with automation technology are part of the computer‐industry marketplace. However, vendors that serve the library component of this marketplace face problems not typical of the industry as a whole. Significant and unique problems include the protracted selection processes employed by libraries, the very slow and drawn‐out payment cycles, the dependence of the libraries on vendors, and the adversarial relationships that frequently exist between the libraries and vendors. These, and related issues, are discussed by representatives of eight prominent automation firms: Joseph R. Matthews (INLEX), James J. Michael (Data Research Associates), Harry Porteous (Geac), Gene Robinson (CLSI), Stephen R. Salmon (Carlyle), Stephen Silberstein (Innovative Interfaces), Phyllis Bova Spies (OCLC Local Systems), and Harriet Valázques (Utlas).

UTLAS has developed and is developing a set of automated services which are directed at meeting the following criteria: (i) provision of an easily‐learned system for the sharing of catalogue and authorities records on a network facility which is economically usable over a wide geographical area; (ii) system flexibility to permit the recording of many types of bibliographic material; (iii) provision to accommodate bibliographic material from a variety of sources, and to permit the integration of records into usable databases with a clear identification of the source of each record; (iv) flexible facilities for selection and merging of material from multiple sources for the purpose of generating library products such as catalogue cards, bookform and microform catalogues and online enquiry; (v) provision of effective system control to relate each machine‐readable database to its counterpart published catalogue and updates; and (vi) provision of economic network facilities, such that system users may elect a high degree of local management of fully developed collections of machine‐readable records.

The Commercial Invoice is the first EDI message to gain worldwide acceptance, and it has been registered as a standard by the United Nations. The action was hailed by the Commission of European Communities (CEC) as a significant step towards the international agreement on technical standards needed in order for electronic communications to gradually replace paperwork in world trade.

To meet the growing need for computer law information, West Publishing Company has announced two new books by Professor Steven L. Mandell, ‘Computers, Data Processing, and the Law’, and ‘Computers, Data Processing, and the Law: Text and Cases’, the professional edition.

Libraries—international DIK LEHMKUHL, ‘Harvesting books for the world’, Library Journal. 15 May 1946 (vol. 71, no. 10), pp. 728–30. [A report on the work of the Inter‐allied Book Centre, London.]