Countywide : PC Users to Access Library Catalogues

Within months, Ventura County residents with personal computers will be able to find out what books are in the county’s libraries without leaving home.

The Library Services Agency has installed a new $1.2-million computer system that not only beefs up the computerized cataloguing used by patrons at the 15 libraries, but will also enable users at home to access the catalogues.

Dixie D. Adeniran, director of the agency, said the system has been fully operational at all the libraries for two weeks. In a report to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, she called the system revolutionary, although not the first.

Adeniran said that other libraries, including one in Santa Monica, have similar systems.

She said that early in 1993, the county agency will be prepared to let home users access the catalogues at no cost. All they need is a personal computer equipped with a modem. Her office is still developing the procedures for use.

Those who go to the library will find the new computer catalogue system more efficient with more up-to-date information, she said. Users will find out which library has the book they are seeking and whether it is available--services that the old system didn’t provide. There are also more computer terminals available to the public at all the libraries, she said.

The new computer system, approved by the supervisors in 1989, replaces one installed in 1981. The purpose was to improve services, but also slow the need to add library staff during tight economic times, she said.