Eight-year-old Matt Maertens and Wilfredo Cordero tap into Salt Lake-Moanalua Public Library's computers. The computer system is in a limited mode as it undergoes massive restructuring.
Photo by Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Eight-year-old Matt Maertens and Wilfredo Cordero tap into Salt Lake-Moanalua Public Library's computers. The computer system is in a limited mode as it undergoes massive restructuring.
Photo by Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
The doors are open and the staff is on the job, but the computer system that catalogs hundreds of thousands of books and periodicals is in a limited mode as it undergoes massive restructuring.
And so until July 18, there will be no overdue notices sent out and no fines.
That's the good news.
There also is no way to see if a book has been checked out except by perusing the shelf, no way to recall or reserve materials that are in high demand, no interlibrary loans and no access to the catalog system from home computers via the Internet.
"People can still check in and check out books so that the libraries can stay open, but the rest of the information, it's all just frozen right now," said Kathy Sterrett, head of the re-engineering project Ho'ala, which means to awaken.
When the system comes out of its sleep, there will be much more available to the library user than before, along with improved efficiency that will allow staffers to concentrate more on customer service, Sterrett said.
Unlike before, readers will be able to call up the full text and graphics of hundreds of online magazines. It won't cost them anything to print out what they want.
"That's great," said Russell Abe, who teaches fourth-graders at Kaunakakai Elementary School on Molokai. Abe, who was using the main library's Internet PC to get information on education grants, said his students have access to the Web at school but most adults on the island do not.
"I think you should make it more public," he said.
"It's just trying to keep up with technology that customers have been asking for for some time," she said.
Sterrett acknowledged the new PCs are likely to whet the public's appetite for online information. She said library branches may have to set up reservation systems to meet the demand, as most will have only one terminal devoted to the Web. Other improvements will simply make the computerized card catalog system easier to use, she said. Library-goers will now be able to search for books by keywords, rather than only title, author or subject. And they will be able to print out a bibliography of the materials they are seeking.
The public can also tap into a "community resource module" that will list coming events in their area. And in the not-so-distant future, they will be able to call up their own library records to see whether materials are due or fines are owed, Sterrett said.
The challenge is still being reviewed by the state attorney general's office but the state has been given the OK to move ahead with the project, said Paul Mark, spokesman for the library system.
The delay has been most sorely felt in the best-seller section. Earlier this year, the state Board of Education awarded another contract to Baker & Taylor of North Carolina to acquire and catalog new titles, making best sellers available sooner.
But that work cannot start until the system upgrade is complete. As a stopgap measure, library administrators spent $25,000 on books at Barnes and Noble this spring.
Despite the rough start, the upgrade itself is going smoothly, Sterrett said.
Last week, technicians electronically transferred roughly 183,000 newspaper records, 414,000 book titles and 970,000 patron records to the computer server housed at the Maui High Performance Computing Center.
The public and staff will find it easy to adapt to the new automation, she said, although at least one librarian was not so sure after three days of training.
"They'll have to be patient with us because we're getting used to the new system, too," said the librarian.