as 1978, comparative cost analyses, not only of the cost of data conversion from manual to online systems, but of the OCLC versus other online systems, were a standard feature of the computerization of library catalogues (Bureau of School Systems, 1975; Pierce & Taylor, 1978). By 1978, the ARL's survey showed that although there appeared to be a nearly 90-percent penetration of some version online systems in university libraries, the systems in use varied. Out of 68 university libraries, 53 used the OCLC system, five the BALLOTS system, and ten a variety of local-network systems (ARL, 1978). By 1987, cost analyses of online systems had been refined to report on the comparative costs associated with making successful subject searches on one system or another (Getz, 1987).
As the inevitability of data conversion in general increased, so too did the growth of OCLC in particular. A report by Davis & Dingle-Cliff (1978) at the time suggested that OCLC conversion was especially suited to small-collection cataloging and to the cataloging of new collection en
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