Cost Benefit Analysis of New Technology: A Rational Approach

Abstract

Since the late sixties, the availability of low cost and user oriented computer technology enabled the major libraries and documentation centers to unravel the old problem of mananaging large quantities of data and documents with more speed, efficacy and efficiency. The new computer-based tools allowed the librarians to implement the automation of catalogues, of circulation and lending of books and periodicals. To the information centers, this meant the rising of the large machine-readable databases to store and retrieve documents and references with a swiftness and precision unimaginable before.