Computer Room at the Library of Congress, January 20, 1964
"From left to right: George R. Perreault, head of the Data Processing Offiice, standing at the computer storage unit; Ernest Acosta Jr., digital computer programmer, working at the card reader unit; and Joseph B. Murphy, digital computer programmer, inserting a new tape in one of the tape units. Jan. 20, 1964." The mainframe was an IBM 1401.
Anticipated general benefits of automation as per page three of the report.
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Anticipated general benefits of automation as per page three of the report.
Functional Block Diagram of an Automated Library System
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Functional Block Diagram of an Automated Library System as projected in the LC library automation report.
Detail map of Washington, District of Columbia, United States Overview map of Washington, District of Columbia, United States

A: Washington, District of Columbia, United States

The Beginning of the Automation of the Library of Congress

1963
Cover of Automation and the Library of Congress
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In 1964 the Libary of Congress published Automation and the Library of Congress, a report sponsored by The Council on Library Resources, submitted by a committee chaired by Gilbert W. King. The result of five years of research, this 88-page report completed in 1963 endorsed automation and provided a clear roadmap as to how the process of automating the Library of Congress should proceed, and what it was estimated to cost.

"On Jan. 15, 1964, the first components of a small-scale computer system were delivered to the Library of Congress and installed in the Library’s newly established Data Processing Office.

"Provided for in the Legislative Branch Appropriation Act of 1964 (P.L. 88-248), the IBM 1401 was intended for use in payroll, budget control, card distribution billing, accounting for book and periodical purchases and to produce various statistical and management reports.

"A week later, the Library announced the results of a multiyear study on the feasibility of automating its bibliographic functions. Sponsored by a $100,000 grant from the Council on Library Resources Inc., the 88-page report titled “Automation and the Library of Congress” concluded that automation in bibliographic processing, catalog searching and document retrieval was technically and economically feasible. But developmental work would be required for equipment—not yet in existence—and the conversion of bibliographic information to machine-readable format. The report also recommended that the Library of Congress, because of its central role in the nation’s library system, take the lead in the automation venture. Many of the report’s recommendations were implemented in the coming decades, while others, such as a plan for an integrated library system, would wait until the turn of the century.

"Throughout the remainder of the 1960s, attempts were made for contractual development of a highly specialized bibliographic information system. The Library ultimately established its own in-house automated systems office (known today as the Information Technology Services Office) for system development. Over the past five decades, the Library has developed more than 250 enterprise systems and applications for use by Congress, and the library, legal and copyright communities, to name a few" (https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2014/01/a-half-century-of-library-computing/, accessed 2-2021).

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