Platform Evolution: From Dumb Terminals to PCs to the Web and Beyond

摘要

It's remarkable to me how much public computing has changed since I began working for the Vanderbilt University library system in the mid-1980s. We, like most libraries, have followed a progression of technologies that began with dumb terminals connected to a mainframe, moved to PCs with access to the online catalog and CD-ROM-based information products, and eventually developed into our current environment that relies on the Web to deliver information resources to our users both locally and remotely. A review of the historical path that public access library computing has taken reveals the significant limitations of earlier times, illustrates the continual expansion of information that libraries have been able to offer to their users, and sheds light on the opportunities and challenges we will face in the future. Recalling the limitations of the not-too-distant past helps us to put today's information overload problems into perspective.