The major objective of the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) Computer Search Center (CSC) is to educate and link industry, academia, and government institutions to chemical and other scientific information systems and sources. The CSC is in full operation providing services to users from a variety of machine-readable data bases with minimal restrictions and a high degree of flexibility. A new modular machine-independent PL/1 software system was developed for handling virtually any bibliographic-type data base. CSC's transferable programs have run at fifteen different computer facilities with different: hardware computer models, versions of operating system, peripherals, and releases of the PL/1 compiler. All data bases are converted by a preprocessor to standard IIT Research Institute (IITRI) format which employs a directory and character string type of file structure and are searched by a software system that employs the novel IITRI-developed Least Common Bigram search screen technique. Part I of this two part study details: computer search center design and development; services; profile preparation and modification; software system; data bases--characteristics, statistics, and comparisons; use aids; user evaluation and feedback; education--user liaison; and center management and procedures. (Author/WCM)