Almost all the bills have been paid for the Chicago Public Library`s $2.1 million computerized circulation system, but library workers still rely on a cumbersome manual system to keep track of patrons holding overdue books.
And although the computer system is supposed to help reduce book losses by alerting clerks to patrons who attempt to check out books while holding other books that are overdue, the computer program designed to flag such scofflaws does not yet work.
The library`s board of directors last week authorized a $500,000 payment for the long-delayed system, leaving only $82,000 unpaid in the $2.1 million contract with DataPhase Systems Inc. of Shawnee, Kan. As the board voted to pay the funds, President James Lowry acknowledged the vote was a ”gamble” to prompt completion of the system that has been delayed 3 1/2 years.
He noted that problems with the system persist, but said he is optimistic that the remaining glitches will be solved with computer software DataPhase has pledged to deliver by May 20.
But even if the problems disappear as promised–a prospect that leaves many library staffers shaking their heads in doubt–delays in delivering an automated system have created costs for the library that extend beyond the $2.1 million contract price. For instance:
— Library workers in the central library, cultural center and 88 branches still rely on a time-consuming manual system to keep track of book loans made from the library`s 4.5 million-volume collection. The manual file, used in tandem with a photographic record made of every book loan, provides the only basis for recording overdue-book violations. It was supposed to be replaced by the more efficient automatic system more than three years ago.
— While the library continues to pay for the manual system, it also pays a maintenance contract for the computer equipment on which the partially functioning system operates.
The 1984 library budget includes an appropriation for a $74,000 maintenance contract to Tandem Computers Inc.–a standard agreement under which the manufacturer charges a predetermined fee to provide the parts, labor and expertise needed to monitor and repair the sophisticated equipment. The library has paid an average $70,000 a year since mid-1981 under the maintenance agreement, according to records provided by library finance director Mark Brticevich.
Richard Friedman, an attorney with Earl Neal & Associates, which has advised the board on the computer contract, noted that the computer equipment has not been idle for three years, but has been used to test the system and perform the basic functions in the system that do work.
He added that Dataphase and Doelz Networks Inc., the company that supplied the equipment for the final phase of the computer system, eventually will have similar agreements. The two companies are negotiating separate maintenance contracts that may amount to $85,800 annually, he said.
— Costs of the computer delay also includes $29,980 paid since last August to Friedman`s law firm. An additional $50,000 was authorized to be spent last fall for consulting work by Arthur Andersen & Co., which offered technical advice on the computer system.
Less easily counted, however, are the costs of maintaining the cumbersome manual system that provides the only records for sending out about 300,000 overdue-book notices a year.
All but five of the system`s branch libraries use computer terminals to check books in and out, keep patron information files and–to some degree
–monitor fine collections.
But workers duplicate the computer process by checking out books on the old-fashioned Recordak machines, which make a photographic record of every book lent.
Three workers, paid a total of $37,000 a year, work full time in a small division of the library to convert these photographic records into paper notices that are sent to patrons with overdue books. Film and maintenance for the Recordak machines cost about $35,000 a year. As part of the manual system, clerks keep separate card files that provide the basis for sending out overdue-book notices.
Virginia Brzozowski, a circulation chief, estimates that employees who work at the circulation desks in the cultural center spend 25 percent of their workdays maintaining the card files and processing the overdue-book notices in the manual system.
Librarians in some of the city`s 88 branches, who complain of chronic understaffing, put the estimate higher, saying that some workers spend 30 to 50 percent of their time maintaining the paper records.
In the South Chicago branch, 9055 S. Houston Ave., three clerks spend 30 to 40 percent of their workday building card files for books checked in and out, double-checking overdue-book records from the central library, and mailing out notices on overdue books, said branch librarian Clifton Nicholson. ”The manual system is the best thing we`ve got going,” he noted.
”Otherwise we`d have no track of exactly what`s going on.”
The new system was designed to send computer-generated post cards to all patrons with books that have been overdue for a specified amount of time, said Ulo Ormiste, library data-processing director.
The function has been delayed because the computer program that controls it was written for a newer version of equipment than that the library possesses, Ormiste said. DataPhase is rewriting the program to make it compatible with the library`s equipment, and has promised delivery of the new program by May 20, Ormiste said.
As board members voted to authorize paying $500,000 in the remaining contract, they also agreed to delay releasing DataPhase from a $596,000 performance bond that guarantees the system will perform to library specifications. The board also has the option of seeking $100 to $200 a day in late-penalty charges from DataPhase.
But Friedman has warned library officials that ”there are considerable risks and considerable doubts” in suing DataPhase. DataPhase has informed the lawyers, Friedman said, that if they are challenged in court, DataPhase may accuse the library of failing in its obligation to provide enough technical personnel to properly monitor the installation of the system.
When the automated system works, it should speed the return of books to the library, said Lynda Sanford, chief of the general information service division. Overdue-book notices now are sent to patrons two to six months after books are due. No second notices are mailed as a reminder, she said.
”Studies have been done that say the most effective way of getting books back is to send first an overdue notice, and then a second notice that is a bill,” Sanford said.
Sanford`s comments came during a week in which board member Thomas Rosenberg suggested closing some branch libraries as a ”last resort” to curb book thefts and losses that he estimated absorb 35 percent of the branches`
book budget.
