The staff at the Peachtree City Library is looking at some heavy work days coming up.

The transfer to a new computerized catalog system is coming next month, and the thousands of books in the library will have to be given bar codes, one book at a time.

It was suggested at the Sept. 8 Library Commission meeting that the facility may have to close for a couple of days so that staff and volunteers can get the job done quickly without hindering residents.

“It'd be an inconvenience for patrons” to try and stay open, servicing the public and making the changes at the same time, according to city leisure services director Randy Gaddo.

The new system is scheduled to be installed the first week of October, after every other library in the region has been serviced. The computers have already been delivered and are waiting for installation.

All of the appropriate cables and lines have been put in place already, staff reported, and all should be operational by late November. Bar codes have to be on all of the books by Nov. 1.

Both catalog systems will be used simultaneously for a brief time, as books checked out under the old system will have to be checked back in under that system as well before they can be converted to the new system.

The Library Commission suggested having a grace period with no fines so that stray books can be rounded up as quickly as possible. That is being considered by the staff.

In other library news, staff reports that comments from the ongoing computer classes are mostly good. There is currently a waiting list of more than 160 for the classes, with six computers now in use.

Library technology director Jill Kuhns laid out the costs for getting six more computers in and having the classes at full capacity. The Library Commission decided to use enhancement fund expenditures to get that done immediately.

Christopher Clark moved to spend the $6,157.94 necessary for completing the project. David Satterthwaite seconded, and the motion carried unanimously.

All items in the library's budget for the upcoming fiscal year are intact, Gaddo reported. There were no changes since the previous budget meeting, and the City Council approved the entire city budget last week as is.

Library Commission chair Marie Washburn made new appointments to various committees Wednesday night, beginning with the placement of Satterthwaite and Cynthia Helmick on the By-Laws Committee.

Clark and Julie Oldenburg, the two newest commissioners, were given spots on the Finance Committee as well as the Library Policies and Procedures Committee.

Washburn pointed out that this was done because they would be serving on the commission the longest, since the bylaws limit commissioners to two terms apiece.

Washburn and Satterthwaite comprise the Public Relations Committee. Washburn said that she was not trying to shirk any committee duties by just being on one, but her term ends in May and she felt it better to have to be replaced in so many areas when that time comes.

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