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When selecting library management software it is very important to develop a thorough acquaintance with what is available and to know what questions to ask. But, no matter how much you finally know about the range of library management software available in today's market, you cannot properly apply that knowledge towards making a cost‐effective purchase until you have a clear idea of the proportions of your library's automation project. Correctly matching a software system to the functions to be automated requires careful analysis of the information necessary to perform each function and the flow of information between them. Developing a function profile form (see page 42) is an easy method of gathering and organizing this information. The three‐part form allows librarians to clearly identify who needs the information, when and how often the information is accessed on the computer, the kinds of formats used, and the specific data required to perform a given task.

As more and more library management software appears on the market, selecting the best computer programs to automate library functions has become increasingly difficult. Each type of program has its own advantages and disadvantages; some have a broad range of applications, but may be too complex or difficult for routine use. Others are designed to perform specific tasks, but cannot be readily modified to meet the needs of an individual department. Warranties, training requirements, and backup policies differ considerably, depending on which program you choose and which company manufactures it. Since library automation can be an expensive prospect, it is well worth the time and energy to develop a thorough acquaintance with what's available—and to know what questions to ask. Your final software decision will determine the productivity, efficiency, and cost‐effectiveness of your library automation project.

Too many microcomputers have been purchased by librarians as a panacea to operational problems only to end up collecting dust in an office because the plan to automate was not carefully developed. This results in disappointment, project failure, and wasted money and time. The first step when considering automation is to determine your objectives. The important question any library manager should ask when considering automating is “Why automate?” Library management should understand the reasons for automating, what can be accomplished by automating, and what costs are involved.

Libraries generate voluminous quantities of paperwork producing overdue notices, bibliographies, letters, memorandums, reports, budgets and contracts as well as brochures and newsletters. At the same time the cost of communicating via paper has risen exponentially. As an example, in the 1930's, it cost $.50 to produce a basic business letter using a typewriter. By the early 1980s that figure had risen to over $6. In 1986 it cost more than $8 to produce the same letter. Charges for outside text composition and printing have experienced similar increases.

THE regular search for the good book for the child will continue so long as there are children's libraries. A recent report on an enquiry has reached us from Bethnal Green and follows the familiar lines of getting the children to vote on what they like; with the result that the “William” books, which should be making all concerned in their production a fortune, head the list, and the simple “small”‐child books, the Milly‐Molly, Mandy series, come next. The field surveyed was small, for “William” polled only 34 votes; only 800 of the 6,000 children registered as borrowers participated. It is questionable if such enquiries, however much they interest us as librarians, can effectively help to improve child reading, unless some method of finding and providing high literature in the type the youngsters prefer can be devised. Mr. George F. Vale prefaces his brief list of books chosen with a really interesting discussion on the subject, but a quotation from it indicates part of the problem. He writes, speaking of Tom Sawyer, Alice and The Wafer Babies, “What elements go to make a permanent children's book is one of the mysteries of literature, but evidently these books possess some quality which overrides all the chances and changes of time. It is not merely the appeal of a good story; there are many better stories than The Water Babies. The secret seems to be some mysterious rapport between the author's mind and that of the readers, an ability to see and to think upon the level of the child mind.” All this is true, but it is more than that, we think; it is the power of recording what is, has been or may be, within the child's own range of experience; that is, it is true in that it realises the conditions of the world of childhood. It is curious, and possibly significant, that a book for children in these enquiries means a story. An enquiry is overdue into the type and quality of non‐fiction read by them, the sort of child who reads and in what circumstances: Real information here might reveal gaps and surpluses in book provision that are not now widely recognized!