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The Grom Hayes Library Automation Systems, running on a DEC Vax‐11/780 with a VMS operating system and VT100 terminals set to ANSI standard, at Hartford State Technical College in Connecticut, were developed in‐house by a librarian with no previous computer experience. First came a program to print catalog cards (never used), then inventory, circulation, and online cataloging. This process took several years due to the inexperience of the programmer: there were many false starts, and some time was lost due to equipment upgrading. Also, practices mandated by catalog cards did not always work with the computer, and these had to be discovered one at a time. The paper details the painful history, development and progress of the library automation project; describes several of the most common activities which may be generated from a menu; looks at future prospects; and concludes that this kind of home‐grown system is not recommended due to the time and effort involved.