August 22. 1997 (Raleigh, NC) - Keystone Systems, a leading producer of library automation systems, is proud to announce that KLAS, the Keystone Library Automation System, has been installed at Suffolk Cooperative Library - Talking Books Plus, Bellport, New York as the new library automation system.

Talking Books Plus is a free library service for Suffolk County residents with disabilities. As part of the Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Talking Books Plus works closely with the public libraries of Suffolk County to assure that all residents have access to library materials regardless of disability. To efficiently and cost-effectively provide these services, the library required a new automation system which provides more advanced operation features than its previous system. KLAS offers several features not available on the previous system, including staff Keyword searching on title and annotation (among other fields) and a free-form report writer which allows the staff to design their own reports and labels.

"There were two major qualifications we had when considering library automation systems: system flexibility and a company which would provide strong support," stated Julie Klauber, Librarian, Talking Books Plus. "KLAS provides all the flexibility we require to operate as we dictate, not as forced by the design of the automation system, and Keystone has proved to be a wonderful organization which provides excellent support to its customers."

KLAS provides access to the library's catalogue of over 44,000 titles for its 2,500 patrons, to circulate over 100,000 items per year. The staff at Talking Books Plus is using KLAS in a mixture of both host-based and client/server environments simultaneously. This feature has allowed the library to continue to use existing equipment, and upgrade to PC workstations as needed.

Keystone Systems, Inc. is a fifteen year old company based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Through extensive research and consultation, our developers have created a powerful, yet elegant library automation system, KLAS, which has the flexibility for customization to meet the specific needs of special, academic, and public libraries. Keystone's staff takes pride in assisting customers to obtain and fully utilize the best computer systems available.