Since the end of 1995, the ATM technology has been used on the backbone connections of Brno metropolitan network. The aim of the ATM library project is to extend the current ATM network by attaching the MU library server, thus ensuring a substantially more efficient connection between the server and the whole metropolitan network.

The connection will help to integrate the existing library-information services on much higher level. Currently, independent telnet sessions must be opened by the users for any service required from the server. Through the ATM access, the users will be provided with much faster and much more comfortable access to the information sources.

The concept of MU library information system is realized at two levels:

• at the central level - by building the union University catalogue accessible via academic network for both internal (MU) and external users
  
• at faculty levels - by building autonomous faculty catalogues and ensuring the provision of local automated library services (borrowing services, aquisitions, etc.) with limited network access
  

On the central server, the union catalogue is being built by
transferring and integrating faculty catalogues.
This process increases continually the number and the requirements of concurrently working users - both requirements on disk and network capacities and access times. For the planned improvement of database access it is
possible to utilise the fact that data on the server is distributed into several partial (faculty) catalogues: it allows quite naturally to divide the whole database into more disk units attached to various drives which, consequently, allows access to the units - more or less - in parallel mode. The project has chosen the way of combining a local solution (i.e., installation of more drives on the server) and a network solution (i.e., using a NFS mounted filesystem) - which requires the planned more efficient ATM connection of the server. Through this connectio