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Librarians have been concerned about the long‐term success of library automation vendors, and their concerns have been confirmed by the decline and fall of a number of library system vendors, or, at least, by the demise of their products. This paper is an attempt to document the history of events in the library automation marketplace, and to put these events into meaningful business perspective. Among the issues examined here are: a) Who are the players? b) How can vendors be characterized? c) How do these characteristics reflect present and future success in the marketplace? d) How can the marketplace be characterized? e) How do these characteristics influence the success or failure of vendors? f) Is current success of a vendor indicative of a good product, of sound management, of customer satisfaction, and of future success? g) How, in fact, is success measured? h) Are there quantitative measures that can be applied to estimate the likely future success of a vendor?

Library automation has both tested the educational preparation of librarians and created new educational demands. Four major consultants—James E. Rush, Jose‐Marie Griffiths, Wilson M. Stahl, and Rob McGee—discuss the competencies currently required of professional librarians, consider the extent to which new graduates and working librarians possess these qualifications, and identify methods by which organizations and individuals can realize the goal of professional competence. In addition to addressing formal educational programs, the consultants place a great deal of emphasis on continuing education. Continuing education must become a job requirement; library managers must be responsible for creating, encouraging, and supporting such opportunities for individuals and the total organization.

Typically, library building projects are undertaken to accommodate a library's needs for the foreseeable twenty years or more. With major changes in information technologies occurring at intervals of less than five years, it should be assumed, within its twenty‐plus years of initial service, that a library building will have to accommodate a series of changes in order to support currently unknown technologies. Issues related to the development of library facilities that will meet current and future needs are discussed by three prominent consultants and representatives of two vendors: Wilson M. Stahl, James J. Michael (Data Research Associates), Rick Richmond, Gene Robinson (CLSI), and James E. Rush.

Five prominent consultants‐Richard Boss, Susan Baerg Epstein, Rob McGee, Joseph Matthews, and James E. Rush—discuss the most common mistakes vendors make in implementing automated systems. Basic problems relate to identification of library needs; communications; delivery dates; inadequate systems; and systems support. Suggestions are made for correcting these problems.

Five prominent consultants‐Richard Boss, Susan Baerg Epstein, Rob McGee, Joseph Matthews, and James E. Rush—discuss the three most common mistakes made by librarians involved in automation. These mistakes are costly in terms of time, money, and functional success. They are made repeatedly; all are avoidable.

No comprehensive set of data elements for describing computer software has previously been developed. Applications determine the need for specific data elements. This article presents a comprehensive profile of data elements, and identifies their probable application in library catalogs, bibliographic references, program documentation, program front matter, program packaging, software catalogs and eye‐legible labels. The data elements are correlated with existing MARC tags, providing compatibility with current usage.

Unethical behavior hurts everyone, including the offending person or organization. Unfortunately, the effects of unethical behavior are often long delayed, so the consequences are thus often attributed to the wrong cause. When librarians purchase automated systems, unethical practices—whether committed by consultants, vendors, or librarians—will cause significant harm to the libraries because they can not only acquire inadequate systems, but encounter many managerial and operational problems as well. In this symposium, five major consultants—Rob McGee, Howard Harris, Jose‐Marie Griffiths, Susan Baerg Epstein, and James Rush—share their experiences and thoughts on related issues.

Five prominent consultants—Susan Baerg Epstein, James Rush, Jose‐Marie Griffiths, Rob McGee, and Wilson Stahl—address the development and use of the request for proposals (RFPs) in the library automation procurement process. Most consultants agree that the RFP is an effective means of selecting a system, if used properly. But it can be misused, is frequently substituted for sound judgment and intelligent decision making on the part of library staff, and is expensive. Librarians often focus so much on preparing the RFP that the goals of the planning process are lost. The preparation of the RFP is only one step in the procurement and installation process. It should be viewed as one intermediate objective, which must be coordinated with others to achieve successful results.

Five prominent consultants—James Rush, Richard Smith, Susan Baerg Epstein, Jose‐Marie Griffiths, and Rob McGee—address the issues that most effect system performance. They note that virtually every phase of planning for a system involves issues related to performance. No single topic is more essential to the successful implementation of a system. Guidelines and advise are provided.

Five consultants address the challenge of projecting automation costs. The various cost‐components of automation are identified, as are the factors that contribute most to cost miscalculation. Rules‐of‐thumb for projecting costs, and the risk associated with their use, are reviewed. The importance of life‐cycle planning is stressed.