Library Plugged In to the Future : New $2-million mainframe computer will allow facility’s patrons greater access to a wide variety of information.

The future is scheduled to arrive at the Orange County Public Library’s 27 branches next spring.

That’s when the library’s new $2-million mainframe computer will begin operation, allowing patrons greater access to a wide variety of information--everything from the indexing and texts of magazine articles and corporate and financial reports to on-line encyclopedias and the works of Shakespeare.

And if you have a personal computer and modem you won’t even have to leave home to tap into this storehouse of information.

“It is the advent of what might be called the electronic library or the library without walls,” said Orange County Librarian John Adams. “Currently, we have a computer in place which checks books in and out and keeps track of overdues. We will be replacing that with a much more powerful system.”

Adams, former director of Libraries for the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System in Tampa, Fla., said that part of the reason he applied for the job as Orange County’s head librarian last year was because of the Orange County Public Library’s “reputation and record of innovative and responsive public service.”

“The single greatest opportunity I was aware of when the position came open was the fact that the current computer system is 10 years old and was to be replaced and that there were opportunities present to do something really of a landmark nature in this business,” said Adams, 42.

In an interview earlier this week--it’s National Library Week--Adams talked about the library’s accomplishments during his yearlong tenure. But, he said, the “most exciting thing” occurred last week when the library began the process of purchasing its new mainframe computer.

When the computer begins operation next year, the Orange County Public Library will become one of the first in the country to take advantage of the new technology, which Adams said will “revolutionize library service.”

Adams said the list of holdings currently available on the library’s old computer indicates whether a copy of a given book is somewhere in the library system but does not say which branch has it or whether it is available. But the new computer will feature an on-line holdings list that will tell borrowers how many copies of a given title are at each branch and provide the status of that item: whether it is on the shelf or checked out and, if so, when it is due back.

Adams said the library hopes to reach agreements with other area libraries--such as the UC Irvine library and the Los Angeles Public Library--so that their holdings listings also will be accessible through the county library computer.

Adams said the function of knowing the complete status of a single book has been available in other libraries for at least five years, but Orange County will be taking it a step further. “What we intend to do is expand that system beyond simply providing records of book holdings and use the system to provide citizens with the actual research material itself,” he said.

Basically, he said, that will be accomplished by simply telling the computer what subject you want information on, and the system will respond not only with whatever books the library may own dealing with the subject, but magazine articles, abstracts of dissertations and a wide variety of other types of information.

The new computer will also make waiting in line for specific information sources a thing of the past. Currently, if you want to consult the holdings list, periodical index or corporate report data base, you have to go to different computer terminals. “With the new system, we’ll be able to make all these information sources available at all terminals in all our libraries,” said Adams.

Owners of personal computers will be able to gain access to the on-line resources by phoning the library through a 900 number, Adams said. “This will make it possible for the first time for people to use their public library without ever having to leave their home or office.” The exact cost per minute for using the 900 number has not yet been determined, Adams said, “but revenues generated in that manner will allow us to expand and enhance the system even further without having to go back to the taxpayers to do it.”

Adams said the library staff views the prospect of the new mainframe computer as “very exciting, in that it will increase our ability to provide information to our users. In another sense, however, we see this as absolutely crucial to the continued relevance of the public library to the community we serve.”

Since Adams took over as county librarian one year ago, the library also has implemented a new program in which computer terminals at all branches are connected to the county recorder’s office, thus allowing people to obtain certified copies of birth certificates for anyone born in the county since 1950. About 800 people a month are now saving a trip to Santa Ana to obtain copies of birth certificates for passports, school, Little League and other children’s activities that require the document.

In May, the library will initiate an adult literacy program in all 27 branches that will train volunteers to teach adults to read. The library received a federal grant to fund the project for five years, said Adams, who operated “a very successful” similar program in Tampa.

The library has also completed work on the design of the new Rancho Santa Margarita branch library. Construction will begin later this year, and expansion of the Laguna Beach branch is scheduled to start in the fall.

By the end of April, the library’s administration and technical services department will move into its new headquarters in Santa Ana. (The old library headquarters were discovered to be contaminated with asbestos and had to be abandoned in late 1990. The staff of about 80 people, meanwhile, has been operating out of temporary locations and facilities throughout the county; Adams has been working out of the branch librarian’s office in the Heritage Park Library in Irvine.)

“It’s been a very exciting period of growth and personal acclimation to the organization and the community,” Adams said of his first year on the job, noting that “we have seen a continuing increase in demand for our services by the public. The number of items borrowed last year increased by 10% over the year before to over 6 1/2 million items.”