The Use of Computers in Ghana Libraries: Justification and Constraints

Abstract

Electronic computers which were first used in the 1940's in a few research laboratories, have now become commonplace tools in data processing for government, business and industry, in scheduling and control of manufacturing operations, in medical analyses; in transportation and communication systems and in scientific activities. Perhaps no other single development has had such an impact on human endeavours in such a brief period of time. Most problems in library and information science are being solved by computers
and it is therefore becoming internationally accepted by librarians that the future lies in automation. This paper clarifies the questions which librarians in Ghana must answer if they contemplate automation. It indicates the changes and limitations which fill the other pan of the scales and which are frequently only discovered by bitter experience.