THE YEAR OF THE UNICORN - A REVIEW OF THE 1ST YEARS EXPERIENCE WITH THE UNICORN COLLECTION MANAGEMENT-SYSTEM AT THE KINGS-FUND-CENTER

In the Autumn of 1989, King Edward's Hospital Fund for London embarked on an ambitious project to develop a fully integrated information ret rieval system for its two libraries and several specialist information exchanges accessible to all staff via the Fund's office automation ne twork. In August 1990, it became the first European organisation to pu rchase the UNICORN collection management system to which it added the BRS/SEARCH system for a complete full-text retrieval and library manag ement package. One year after installation, all modules are operationa l, a major collection inventory, weeding and barcoding project is near ly complete and the retrospective conversion of the library catalogues is on target with completion due in less than six months. The Fund, n ow one several of European UNICORN sites, recently hosted the first Eu ropean UNICORN Users' Group.