This fascinating tale of the rise and fall of mini-computer-based integrated library systems (ILS) offers both an explanation of the technical workings-still being used daily-and a historical investigation.

Parents of Invention: The Development of Library Automation Systems in the Late 20th Century traces the rise and fall of mini-computer-based ILS. In doing so, it offers an insider’s view of the process of creation, the technical challenges, and the lasting contributions of librarians and programmers at a time when librarians and their automation needs forced computer companies to innovate.

Organized around a series of interviews with computer programmers, librarians, and salespeople, the book discusses developments from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, focusing on the 1980s when both ILS and the mini-computer were dominant. It documents the time when a small group of computing vendors joined with large libraries around the world to perfect systems that automated functions such as circulation, acquisitions, cataloging, and online public access catalogs. A concluding chapter, contributed by Louise O'Neill, brings the story up to date with a discussion of current developments in library automation, including the adoption of open-source systems, open-access principles, and the Semantic Web.

Interviews with CEOs of libraries and computer companies, programmers, librarians, and library directors from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States

References to published material and memoranda and recourse to actual programming code and output from systems of the period

Photographs of computer machine rooms depicting mini-computer equipment described in the text

A glossary of acronyms, abbreviations, and special terms used in library automation

A bibliography of articles and monographs on historical and current aspects of library automation