College and Research Libraries


Letters 
To the Editor: 

I wish to offer comment on Malcom Getz' s article, "More Benefits of Automation," ap-
pearing in the November 1988 issue of College & Research Libraries. Getz calculates that the 
annual benefit to users of the automated circulation system at Vanderbilt University for 
1987 was $115,340. That is most certainly an impressive savings, but I'm not sure the indi-
vidual user would find his or her respective share of the benefit very meaningful. If a library 
official told me as a library user that they were saving me an average of 78.5 seconds each 
time I charged out a book, I would find it difficult to come up with a serious response. I 
might even find it hard to keep from chuckling a little. 

We need to ask questions about how automation affects the user before we make the final 
judgment on its benefits. Is the user going to bank the 78.5 seconds saved every time he or 
she checks out a book and then take a holiday at the end of the semester? Will users stand to 
receive money for the time they save in charging books? I suspect that the answer to both of 
these questions is an emphatic no! 

$115,340, impressive though it may be in the aggregate, when divided over 657,304 circu-
lations amounts to no practical benefit to the user. I guess this is an example of the adage 
the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. 

DWIGHT E. STRANDBERG 
Dwight D. Eisenhower Library 

361 



Where Past Meets Present -
BIOSIS Perspectives Series 

._____ 
~ . ------ - ----- . -

-,..... 
. 

' - J: ._,., 

Only the 8/0S/S Perspectives Series gives you a complete perspective on AIDS 
or Sports Medicine! 

The 8/0S/S Perspectives Series is a unique service which links past and present 
research findings on a particular topic. Each topic includes a comprehensive, 
retrospective bibliography and a monthly current awareness journal. 

For vital, up-to-date information on either of these rapidly advancing research 
areas, look to the 8/0S/S Perspectives Series: Where past meets present to give 
you a complete perspective I 

_Yes! Please send me more information on the 8/0S/S Perspectives 
Series! I am interested in the following topic(s): 

AIDS 
_ Sports Medicine 

Name 

Title 

Organization 

Address 

City State 

Postal Code Country 

Return this coupon to: BIOSIS, Marketing Section, 2100 Arch Street, Philadelphia, 
PA 19103-1399 USA or to the Official Representative in your area. Or call toll free 
1-800-523-4806 (USA except PA); (215) 587-4800 (worldwide); Telex 831739; Fax 
(215) 587-2016. CRL589PMP