Libraries Finish Conversion To Computerized Circulation

Harvard students hitting the books this fall will find that locating and checking out reading material at Lamont and Hilles Libraries is now easier to do.

Over the summer, both libraries converted to an automated circulation subsystem of HOLLIS, according to Librarian of Hilles and Lamont Libraries Heather Coles.

Library users now need go no further than the nearest HOLLIS terminal to find out not only where a book is located, but also if it is checked out or on reserve.

"The implementation of a campus-wide information system at Harvard will soon provide this community with a constellation of information," said Coles in a written statement released earlier this month.

Widener and Cabot were the first Harvard libraries to develop computerized systems of circulation in HOLLIS. The process of implementing automated circulation in Lamont and Hilles involved a great deal of planning and work, Coles said in an interview yesterday.

"[Library staffers] had to spend time going into the stacks and finding every book we own and put bar codes on each and every one." Lamont and Hilles libraries have more than 400,000 volumes.

Many students said they welcome this new development in library technology.

"It saves a lot of useless time that you spend wandering around the stacks," said Keller Norris '94.

Calysta Drake '94 said, "I noticed that checking out books has been faster this year. It seems like the old system was archaic."

But few people went as far as Paula Baig, a fifth-year graduate student atthe Center for Middle East Studies.

"It's the best thing that's happened to my lifesince my wedding," Baig said

"It's the best thing that's happened to my lifesince my wedding," Baig said