Libraries Install New Computerized System

Next year, students will be able to borrow books from Widener, Hilles, Cabot and the Divinity School libraries without filling out time-consuming paperwork, thanks to a new computerized checkout system, library administrators said.

As part of the University's new Harvard On-Line Library Information System (HOLLIS), when taking out a book students will merely present their I.D. cards at the checkout counter where they will be scanned by a computer.

Each book will have a bar code, and each borrower will have an I.D. card with a bar code, explained Dale Flecker, associate director of the University Library. At the checkout counter, a machine will read the bar codes of both, associate the two and store the information into the computer data base.

"It gets rid of a lot of ugly paperwork," said Carrie M. Kent, special assistant to the associate College librarian for public services. Under the current system, the borrower has to fill out a form listing the call number, title and author of each book.

The library staff then has to file these forms by hand, a process that takes several hours a day, Kent said. In addition, once a week, the forms are sorted by hand to find overdue books, Kent said.

The computer catalogue, however, will eliminate paper files, turn up overdue books automatically and will even print out overdue notices.

While many of the University's major libraries will be employing the new system next fall, others may take as many three years before putting it into operation, Flecker said.

Karen L. Whittlesey-First, supervisor of monographic processing at Cabot, said the new system "may make things difficult in the beginning, while people learn to use the system, but in the long run it will make both circulation and inventory much more efficient."

"It's going to be great," said Joe M. Ferara, reserves and circulation librarian at Hilles. With more accurate records generated by the computer, he said, the libraries will be able to buy books that better reflect the needs of the borrowers.