RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF PROTOTYPE LIBRARY SYSTEMS WHICH UTILIZE OPTICAL CHARACTER RECOGNITION INPUT HAS CENTERED AROUND OPTICAL PAGE READERS AND DOCUMENT READERS. THE STATE-OF-THE-ART OF BOTH THESE OPTICAL SCANNERS IS SUCH THAT BOTH ARE ACCEPTABLE FOR LIBRARY INPUT PREPARATION. A DEMONSTRATION PROJECT UTILIZING THE TWO TYPES OF READERS, SINCE THE CAPABILITIES OF EACH TYPE ARE SUITED TO DIFFERENT LIBRARY APPLICATIONS, WAS SET UP. LIBRARY REGISTRATION, BOOK CATALOG PRODUCTION, CARD CATALOG PRODUCTION, AND BOOK RECORD PRODUCTION WERE DEMONSTRATED ON THE PAGE READER AND LIBRARY CIRCULATION CONTROL ON THE DOCUMENT READER. FLOW CHARTS WERE DEVELOPED FOR EACH SUBSYSTEM AS WELL AS FORMATS FOR THE CONTROL INPUT FORMS AND THE PROCEDURES TO BE FOLLOWED. FOUR HUNDRED TWENTY-FOUR DOCUMENTS WERE TYPED USING A SPECIAL TYPE FACE AND WERE SCANNED BY THE PAGE READER, WHICH HAD AN ERROR RATE OF LESS THAN ONE PER CENT. THE MAGNETIC TAPE OBTAINED FROM THIS PROCEDURE WAS USED IN THE SECOND STEP IN WHICH A COMPUTER TRANSLATED AND TRANSFORMED THE DATA FOR INPUT INTO THE THIRD PROCEDURE, THE PRODUCTION OF THE CATALOGS OR REPORTS REQUIRED FROM THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS. THE CIRCULATION SYSTEM USED TWO-PART, INTERLEAVED TAB STOCK CARDS WHICH WERE IMPRINTED AT THE TIME OF CIRCULATION WITH THE NECESSARY INFORMATION. THE DOCUMENT READER READ THE CARDS AND PUNCHED THE INFORMATION ON THE SAME CARD WITH ABOUT A 25 PER CENT REJECT RATE. WITH PROPER CARE IN DATA PREPARATION AND CONVERSION AND WITH A DOCUMENT READER ADJUSTED FOR CORRECT PRINT INTENSITY, THE REJECTION RATE COULD HAVE BEEN LESS THAN 5 PER CENT. THE RECORDS WERE THEN TRANSFERRED TO MAGNETIC TAPE AND THE NECESSARY REPORTS MADE ON THE COMPUTER. A COST ANALYSIS WAS ALSO DONE, COMPARING THE FIVE DIFFERENT WAYS OF CONVERTING DATA INTO MACHINE-READABLE FORM. THIS STUDY SHOWED THAT OPTICAL SCANNING METHODS ARE LEAST EXPENSIVE ON A MONTHLY BASIS. IN GENERAL, DEMONSTRATIONS CONDUCTED DURING THE COURSE OF THE PROJECT INDICATED THAT WITH PROPER PREPARATION AND NORMAL ATTENTION TO DETAIL, THE ERROR AND REJECTION RATES OF BOTH PAGE AND DOCUMENT READERS COULD BE KEPT WELL WITHIN DESIRABLE LIMITS. THIS REPORT IS ALSO AVAILABLE FREE ON REQUEST AS LONG AS THE LIMITED SUPPLY LASTS FROM THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY LIBRARY, P.O. BOX 111, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90053. (CM)