Library Automation

The first step toward automation of library operations at Dartmouth is being taken this year with a research project studying the possibilities of computer applications to the library's circulation system.

The project is headed by Thomas F. Piatkowski, assistant professor at the Thayer School of Engineering, aided by several graduate students. Research is being conducted in a special Thayer laboratory where a prototype system will be designed and fabricated.

Piatkowski, who came to Dartmouth this fall from the University of Michigan, specializes in computerized information networks. His automated library circulation system, requiring a machine-readable identification for the book and a punched ID badge for the patron, will be designed so that it can to some extent be self-service.

The major achievements of such a system, according to William B. Meredith, assistant librarian and project adviser, will be improved services to the user, and the elimination of many of the repetitive clerical routines that are now required.