MISSION VIEJO : Saddleback Library, Phone Changes OKd

Saddleback Community College District trustees have approved two programs that will revolutionize the way students register for classes and search for information at their libraries, school officials said.

In a unanimous vote, the trustees last week gave initial approval to Saddleback and Irvine Valley colleges to install a $275,000 touch-tone phone registration system and a $270,000 library computer catalogue network.

Officials said the phone registration system will eliminate the need for students to wait in long lines to register for classes. The program will begin in the summer of 1993.

Saddleback Chancellor Richard Sneed said savings in personnel costs and a reduction in the number of walk-in registration days should more than cover the estimated $30,000 required to operate the program each year.

Also by June, 1993, officials plan to automate the libraries at both campuses, making card catalogues a thing of the past. Eventually, officials said, they hope to link their libraries to the state university networks.