ABSTRACT
As a land-grant research university without a geography or cartography department, Washington State University Libraries present a unique organizational context for the adoption of GIS services. The authors consider the implementation of GIS services at the Washington State University Libraries, particularly at the Holland/New Library, which originated from an ARL/GIS Literacy Grant in 1992. The authors cover the following topics in the development of the service: Historical Background, System Architecture, Project Issues and Service Provision, Reference Services Policies, Current Implementation and Related Campus-Wide Issues, and Future Agenda. The services offered were essentially at a minimum level, that is, only providing limited access to government and commercial geospatial data using Arc View and Land view software. The approach to GIS in reference work has been to view it as a specialized service within a standard reference framework very similar to the computer-mediated searching programs of the past. Future plans for GIS services include shifting from a single desktop workstation to a system-wide network access to spatial data and maintaining a centralized repository for all spatial data whether purchased commercially or developed in-house. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-342-9678. E-mail address: getinfo@haworthpressin]
