ABSTRACT
Over the last thirty years the use of computer networks by the library community has fundamentally altered library services throughout the United States. The evolution began with the transformation of cataloging and related processes through the use of cooperative bibliographic utilities like OCLC, RLIN, and WLN. There was simultaneous movement toward the use of commercial reference database services offered by DIALOG, BRS, etc. This growing use of network services in libraries continued with the development of automated interlibrary loan systems based on the huge cataloging databases, along with commercial acquisitions and serial control systems that utilized remote databases.
