The

Peachtree City Library will soon be tied into a single

central computerized catalog serving all eight branches

of the Flint River Regional Library system.

Unicorn/Oasis system by Sirsi has been chosen for this

service, city leisure services director Randy Gaddo

reported last week at the regular monthly meeting of the

Library Commission.

The system

is expected to be in place this fall. All software,

hardware and cabling will be funding by the state, Gaddo

said, while installation costs have also been taken care

of through the regional office.

Used at

libraries throughout the world, the Sirsi system is the

product of choice at Emory University and Kennesaw State

University. Library technology manager Jill Kuhns already

has experience using the system, Gaddo reported.

Records up

to June 11 have already been converted to the new format,

with more recent records being done on an ongoing basis.

demonstration of the system is scheduled for Aug. 5 at

Macon Tech, and local library staff will be represented

there.

Gaddo said

to expect a few bugs to be worked out in the initial

months, as would be the case with any major new

technology.

One area

that should save the library time and money is ordering,

which will be done electronically instead of by mailing

cards to the central office.

Training

for library staff will be provided by the state, and

funding for it will also come from the state, Gaddo said.

"There

don't appear to be any overt costs to us," he said.

"There is money at the state level to do all of

this."

A total of

11 terminals will be outfitted with this system, and all

of those will have Internet access as well. This got the

attention of commission members, who suggested that staff

check out the possibility of children accessing

inappropriate materials without staff knowledge.

As for the

overall Internet policy, which has been changed with the

addition of several new terminals, there have been no

complaints so far.

The

previously considered method of using library cards to

electronically sign on and use Internet computers has

been scrapped in favor of password protection. Patrons

still sign in at the desk, and are then told the password

for accessing Netscape, which is changed every few days.

Kuhns

reported that 11 Internet terminals are now completed and

in use. There have been no major problems as far as

patrons having to wait a long time to use them, like

there were in the past, although even the new terminals

stay fairly busy most of the day, she said.

In other

library news, Gaddo said that initial budget reviews for

fiscal year 2000 have been done, and a special budget

meeting with the City Council and all department heads is

scheduled for Thursday, July 22, at 6 p.m.

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