This paper discusses the differences between the storage problems encountered in a large library and those encountered in the human memory. Some of the properties of the human memory system and some of the major issues which affect the interaction between human users and the existing library systems are outlined. The problem of browsing is used as an exemplar of these properties. Five operations in human information processing are described: (1) sensory transduction, (2) attention and acquisition, (3) short-term memory, (4) long-term memory, and (5) retrieval. A description of a program, Scope Editor, used for editing simple manuscripts and programs, is used as an illustration of the form of recommended interaction which can occur between the user and the automated library. A suggestion is made to enlarge this, giving the worker at his own desk immediate access to the entire library collection. It then becomes possible to contemplate giving every user the equivalent of his own personal research librarian, his own personal files, and his own personal references without detriment to others, provided the new techniques are applied with imagination and, above all, with understanding of the powers and limits of human beings. (Author/CM)