The controversy over change.

The full impact of twentieth century technology upon medical libraries was first felt in the late 1950s and early 1960s with the introduction of electronic automation into library methodology. During those years, often the aura of technology for the sake of technology prevailed, and medical librarians did little to inform themselves of capabilities, potentialities, and limitations in relation to cost-effective library usage of automation. Likewise, currently microforms and audiovisuals are frequently acquired for their own sake instead of for their capacity to transmit messages in the most effective and comprehensive way possible. Controversy has raged and still rages over the pros and cons of applying modern technology to library procedures and over the coexistence of the printed page with electronic media. New systems and methodologies, machine or manual, must realistically be evaluated in terms of increased service output by the library to its clientele. Regardless of technological sophistication, any machine that does not significantly contribute to that specific aim has no place in a library. The tradition of the medical librarian has always been to collect, organize, store, and disseminate information in the most efficient manner that the media of the times have had to offer.