GLENDALE : Hoover High Library System Almost Done

Hoover High School in Glendale has nearly replaced a 65-year-old card catalogue library system with a computerized version.

School staff and student and parent volunteers spent part of the summer sticking bar codes on books and reorganizing furniture space to make room for the computer equipment, librarian Joyce Brace said.

All they need are the computers. Glendale Unified School District’s board members are scheduled to meet Wednesday to decide whether to buy the computers and pay for installation costs from three contractors.

Hoover officials hope to have the computerized library system ready by the first day of school, Sept. 7. The old system will remain during the transition.

In addition to a computerized catalogue system, new library services will include computer programs that can access information from 40,000 news articles and 160 magazines. Computer versions of an atlas, called P. C. Globe, and the Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature will also be available.

The proposal to enhance library services on campus originated earlier this year after Glendale school trustees allowed Hoover officials to auction off three paintings valued at up to $85,000 by Sotheby’s of New York.

Paintings by California artists William Wendt, William Ritschel and Nell Walker Warner were gifts to Hoover High from the Class of ’31. In February, the school received $61,000 for the watercolor art pieces, officials said.

The money was slated for purchase of more books, a library security system and educational computer programs.

Hoover Assistant Principal Sarah O’Reilly said the library upgrade was necessary.

“We’re living in an era of technology,” O’Reilly said. “If we don’t instruct in that mode, then we’re way behind the times.”