ABSTRACT
The cost of Information has been rising at an exponential rate for more than twenty-five years. There are two critical variables in the library environment. The first is the amount of material for which the library must be responsible. The second critical variable is that of cost. Typically, cost is a function of materials, labour, demand, and volume. The key to cost-effective library operations is to have programme oriented systems which can identify what the user really needs and the time frame for its delivery. People frequently respond to the cost-analysis approach by saying that an academic library has a serious obligation to perform an archival function and that there is no cost-value which can be attached to knowledge. The chapter proposes the concept of an information system pictured as a series of concentric circles with the user in the middle and the greatest density of books closest to him and the less used books more remotely located.
