Report of a conference on microcomputer-based information systems

Abstract

On the two-day conference, held in SZÁMALK, Hungary, nearly twenty bibliographic information retrieval systems for microcomputers were presented, mostly in operation. Half of the systems were implemented on Commodore —64 type personal computers well-known and available in libraries though less appropriate for these purposes. Some systems are used on IBM PCs, and some on Hungarian types not known widely. Almost all of them are user-friendly and menu-driven systems. The databases and their parameters are usually fixed, especially the record length and record structure. The number of simultaneously searchable items is low due to the small floppy disk store with two drives at most, therefore the systems are used mainly for file increment searching, or for the bibliographic control of publications or document basis of scientists or a small group of scientists, rather than for the control and management of large library files. The price differences of the systems reflect also the various approaches. The extensive interest toward this conference shows, however, the quick acceptance and spread of library applications of microcomputers in Hungary.