Networking in Spain

Abstract

Spain is a country whose development level falls in the middle range within the European Community; in fact, when measured for certain industry and infrastructure indicators, it resembles the industrialized countries of the north more than other southern-tier countries. All analyses coincide in showing that Spain has experienced strong growth in the last decade and this also holds true in the area of library Services. However, libraries are not at a comparative level with the rest of Europe in terms of funding or Services. In general their progress continues to be impeded by a lack of economic and material means, traditional underutilization and the nonexistence in much of the country, until very recently, of library schools or other training programmes which contributed to an ill-prepared corps of Professionals. On a positive note, Spanish libraries' late entry into the world of automation has had its advantages, by allowing them to leap-frog over the woes of early automation projects and to benefit from the experiences of others and from an everimproving technology. Libraries automating withiii the past two years have had a greatly expanded market to choose from and have been able to implement their Systems much faster than others that began earlier. In some cases, the pioneers in library automation are in the most disadvantaged Situation as they are tied to older programmes and technologies. Although Spanish libraries' entry into computerized networks is relatively recent, they are proceeding without the same delays they experienced when automation began in earnest.