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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 6, 1980)
0 cal THE BATTALION THURSDAY. MARCH 6. 1900 Page 3 Overdue book notices sent jecause of computer mistake mer, tie 3u ghtow 0r dinan] c 'dizeiuy esoftL out mps ori| troubfe. snttobe a coo.' 3 answer 3d job of may be. must be wrtunih "I major in of tj* ntoftL st. IP* rfore tie ew. Dr. ;alizatioi 3 further cide and our Charles mas well alidityof mpeten- five crit- :ency”as ?e of the stand rents. Springer reir fun' r as prop- tes their ragandi deliber- mage an ih major Copies of the Texas A&M University Libraries Circulation Policies and Procedures are available at the circulation desk of the library. Photo by Brian Blalock. By JED T. YOUNG Campus Reporter So you got an overdue book notice from the library' and you don’t have a book that’s overdue? Well, you are one of the many Texas A&M Univer sity students and faculty members who are victims of computer compli cations. During the first few weeks of Janu ary, the computer used by the circu lation division of the Sterling C. Evans Library was out of service. This shutdown was due to a new data base being installed at the Data Pro cessing Center for the circulation di vision’s use. Emma Perry, head of the circula tion division, said the installation was supposed to be completed be fore the end of the Christmas break, but it was not finished until after the first week of the spring semester. During this time, since books checked out and returned were re corded by hand, the computer had no record of these exchanges. This caused complications, Perry said. The computer listed some re turned books as overdue since there was no record, she said. Conse quently, many students and faculty members received unmerited over due notices. Perry said the circulation staff', which is mainly in charge of check out and return of materials, depends on the computer system to keep track of all book exchanges. When someone checks out a book, the staff member uses the book data card to enable the computer to keep track of the book. When the book is returned, the data card is presented in another read station where the computer re cords the return. Each day the computer prints out a list of unreturned books, Perry said. Seven days after the due date, if the book has not been returned, the borrower is sent an overdue notice. In seven more days, if the book still hasn’t been returned, it is listed on what Perry called the “extremely overdue list, which includes the ID number of the borrower. ibrary master plan urged By JERRY MAZE Campus Reporter The library should form a master Ian to govern additions to the lib- iry, Dr. J.M. Prescott told the Lib- iry Council meeting Wedensday. T recommend laying a five-year ideline for acquistions and de- lopment of the library collection, be updated each year,” said Pre- »tt, vice president for academic fairs at Texas A&M. The council is currently drawing a master plan. ^siting the meeting to make re- mmendations on acquisitions, rescott encouraged the library to rchase material that will improve quality, not just the quantity of existing collection. The acquistion policy will apply to the collection in general. No specific areas of interest were named. “I do not think it makes a great deal of sense to make collections in academic disciplines where we do not have offerings,” Prescott said. Instead of increasing the number of subject areas covered in the lib rary, Prescott suggested strengthen ing the use of inter-library loans, or sharing of material between lib raries. The council continued discussing ways to protect the collection from theft. Dr. Irene Hoadley, director of lib raries, said at least 10,000 books are declared lost from the library each year. Hoadley said the books are valued at around $16 each, for a $160,000 minimum total each year. The council discussed ways to im press upon students the seriousness of taking articles from the library. Dr. Ron Darby, council chairman, said, “Students do not seem to understand that taking a book from the library comes under the same laws as lifting a drafting set from the exchange store. One method proposed by the council to deter theft was to seal off the library after closing so no one can get in or out, because people have been left in the library after hours. Other methods are to persistently prosecute anyone caught, and in crease publicity of those prosecuted. However, the council did not agree on a new security policy for the library. m ll RECORD COLLECTION Going-Out-of- Business Sale! DONT WAIT — STORE WILL PROBABLY CLOSE SATURDAY Pink Floyd "Wall" .... •st 4 Fogelberg i-Ps New Heart *2” $4,99. g 7.98 LIST TAPES NOW 4 44 . 1 S+LC, New SC98 Billy Joel 5 January New SC98 Elvis Costello 9 CASH PLEASE — 25C Charge on Checks 211 University Drive 846-3901 If his ID number is on this list, a borrower’s library privileges are sus pended and he can not check out any more until the one that is overdue is returned. If someone had returned a book since the computer has been work ing, Perry said it would probably be recorded, since it only takes a day at the most to process a book get it back on the shelf. Perry said she did not know which students or how many of them re ceived unwarranted notices, but since their names may be included on the extrememly overdue list, they should get in touch with the circula tion division as soon as possible. Perry said the library will do all it can to help remedy the situation. The only situation in which some one will be fined is if the overdue book is on hold, which means some one else wants to check it out. Perry suggests that in the future, the borrower should get a receipt, dated and initialed, from the circula tion desk when he returns his books, to avoid any complications in case of other computer problems. Almanac Library hours during break Luted Press International Today is Thursday, March 6, the 66th dav of 1980 with 300 to follow. The moon is moving toward its last quarter. The morning stars are Saturn and Mercury. The evening stars are Venus, Mars and Jupiter. Those bom on this date are under the sign of Pisces. British poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, wife of poet Robert Browning, was bom March 6, 1806. On this date in history': In 1836, Mexican forces captured The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, killing the last of 187 Americans who had held out for 13 days. In 1857, the United States Supreme Court handed down its land mark ruling that Negro slave Dred Scott could not sue for his freedom in a federal court. 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