Edward M. Heiliger and the Florida Atlantic University Library: An experiment in automation (1955-1967)

Florida Atlantic University library was planned to be the most modern, efficient, and impressive in the world, the model for the library of the future. Edward M. Heiliger, its first director, was the world's leading authority on library automation during the 1960s. He assembled a team that solved many problems using the computer technology of the time. The library received a Herculean task: to design and implement a new system while establishing a collection. Administrators, educators, and students came to FAU to take part in a different concept in education, a place where advanced technology would be merged into the learning process, but they brought traditional views and values. Despite the best of intentions and bold prognostications, insufficient funding and the ingrained ideas of its users prevented the realization of the library's potential.