European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 6, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                August 1985 the stars and stripes Page 3 Library books will be at your fingertips by Dan Wollam Stuttgart Bureau Heidelberg whether youre a casual Reader of Romance novels or a Doc Tor of philosophy working on your third your Hunt through the stacks of the local Usa eur Library is about to change if youre one of those people who Check out books and keep them for feeling sure the system will never catch youre about to be Usa eur libraries Are entering the computer by if All goes the 107 Branch libraries in the system will be connected by Means of the Patr Onori enter automated Library system pals for pals is being tested now in phase two of the test will begin when the libraries in Frankfurt and Stutt Gart Are linked to the Central computer in Raymond director of the Usa eur Library said the greatest advantage to Library patrons will be the online card our system is to make the patrons use of the Library not Only but allow him to Access the wealth of information we he the computerized Catalon will list every Book in the Usa eur Library users will be Able to punch a few buttons on a terminal and browse through the cat blogs of libraries from Bremerhaven to every Book in the system 2 million of them and every copy of every title will be patrons will be Able to find books in any Library and Check their status on checked out or available without a librarians Library officials say patrons will be Able to find a much larger proportion of the systems materials with although the system has always had a Central Loca Tor file in Heidelberg the Usa eur Library resource Center officials say that file is Branch libraries Send cards to the Cen Ter that list changes to their but the labor involved in keeping track of 2 million books makes it impossible for the Center to keep up with the at any Given time were cards behind in out locator Yamachika with the Central locator will be at every patrons pals will also free librarians from administrative Library work is labor intensive and Yamachika Many Usa eur libraries have staff members working full time filing circulation More than 3 million circulations took place last for every an administrative procedure of filing and checking d u 11 l s8ls photo by Dan Wollam Barry who works at Heidelberg Patton Barracks recreation uses a computer terminal to look for a Library had to be in Many automation was made for Library Yamachika it allows us to shift Priori ties from administrative work to helping he pals will add certainty to research Yamachika its easy for a librarian to spend three Days researching for one staff officers he even after those three theres no Way for us to know were giving him every thing we have with the present Yamachika said another advantage to pals is that descriptions in the online Catalon will be the same for every Library the descriptions used by the Library of some books received by the Branch libraries arrive without locator if a Book Doest have the Library of Congress description in the librarians must write their own de scrip so the description of a Book could vary from Library to pals will eliminate but making pals operational has not been without its the biggest problem facing Usa eur libraries now is one example of the complexity of the communications links is the Stuttgart in which Usa eur has had to set up arrangements with three differ ent German Telephone As Yama Chika the Usa eur system is one of the largest Library computer systems in the world in terms of the number of locations having any computer system of this size has its he but Yamachika is confident once those problems Are us Reurs libraries will be some of the Best this is one Way in which the army in Europe is Way he automation is Doit yourself and simple by Dan Wollam Stuttgart Bureau Heidelberg the Patron oriented automatic Library system pals int Only its Usa eur libraries will have two types of terminals one for the librarians and one for the that could be frightening if your Only Contact with a computer has been to read a computerized Bank but theres nothing to fear about pals patrons or the computer tells you what to do and when to do its just a matter of Reading the every person who uses the libraries will have to Regis Ter for a new plastic Library card with a bar code on the Days of having a Library number will soon be every member will have a card and a computerized Library officials Hope the individual accountability will end problems for people who Check out of commands to find some member of the family has a Book that should have been the pals terminals have Light wands that read bar codes on Library cards and the process resembles checking out at a computerized grocery a librarian can Check How Many books you have out and when there due just by waving the Wand Over your card and punching a few patrons will not be Able to rummage through the Library records of other Only librarians will have Access codes to Patron the built and supplied by a Canadian offers seven Means to search for Library patrons can search for key words such As they can search for Library titles or author title or they can conduct whats called a Boolean the Boolean search allows patrons to search for combinations such As War but not world War gardening and or Reagan but not patrons May find some of the computers files Over in a search for authors with the last name of the computer showed 255 different under the terms of the contract Usa eur has with terminals that break will be fixed within one if the main computer in Heidelberg goes it should be running again in two even if the main computer does Branch libraries will still be Able to Check out but patrons wont have Access to the online the Library terminals Arent programmable patrons wont be Able to walk in with a floppy disk and play space but Library officials Are considering put Ting programs into the main such As income tax preparation if that comes to patrons will have Access to the programs on a Tim sharing As phase three of the installation of terminals begins the phase in which the computers in All libraries will be linked will be faced with putting out the Money for the Patron operated they now Cost about the Library at Patrick Henry Village in Heidelberg found it needed six Patron Termi nals to meet the Library system will Supply the More sophisticated and expensive terminal that the Library staff officials Hope the entire system will by operating by phase two of the a test phase linking Stuttgart and Frankfurt to the main computer in Heidel should begin