SANTA ANA : Project Links City Libraries, Schools

Books are so scarce in Walker Elementary School’s library that empty shelves outnumber the ones that hold even a few volumes.

The situation is similar on most Santa Ana Unified School District campuses, because money to purchase new books is difficult to find. But on Tuesday, district and city officials unveiled a new computer system they say might solve the problem.

Called “Project Knowledge Link,” the system gives students access to more than 112,000 books in city libraries. Children can check out those books without leaving their schools, said Edward Lee Vargas, the district’s assistant superintendent for support services.

They will be able to peruse thousands of titles, file their requests electronically and have books delivered to their campuses the following day, he said.

“You can see the increase in the resources our kids are going to have is just phenomenal,” Vargas said.

The system is now running at nine campuses and soon will be expanded to all district schools. Federal library improvement funds paid for the $20,000 cost of the project, which included the installation of computers and software, district spokeswoman Diane Thomas said.

During a demonstration, Councilman Robert L. Richardson learned to operate the system in less than 30 seconds. He typed a few words into a computer and called up a book from the Santa Ana Central Library, “The Concise Illustrated Book of Steam Trains.”

He praised the new system as an important educational advance for students, adding that it “makes a lot of sense. It’s going to give access to students they’ve never had before.”

Ruth Lopez, 11, said the system was easy to use and important for her and fellow classmates: “You can see that there’s not that many books here, but since we have the public library . . . now, we can get them.”