September 30, marked the completion of the five year automation conversion and implementation project of the Free Library of Philadelphia. The Free Library now supports 270 circulation, reference, and public access terminals on its CLSI system.
Integrated online functions include circulation, public access catalog, cataloging, and book acquisition. The Library has a data base of 853,000 titles, 3.29 million copies, and 653,000 registered patrons. Current online circulation is 4.3 million items annually and the Library prints 492,000 borrower cards, overdue notices and other patron communications on the system each year, and, in addition, management reports produced for internal distribution. The newly added book acquisitions system will be handling nearly 500,000 items acquired each year.
Conversion activity at the Free Library combined manual linking of holdings to data base records and use of "smart" or custom labels for materials in the Central Library. Retrospective conversion of its manual card files was completed in 1982 at OCLC headquarters.
The Free Library is presently working on development of a machine-readable authority file, in preparation for an enhanced online catalog, and is implementing a Perline serials control system. Film and video booking operations are expected to be automated in 1988.
