Harvard is nearing the end of the first phase of a two-and-a-half year project to install a new integrated library system to replace HOLLIS, its current program.

The new system, HOLLIS II, is essentially "old technology in a new world," said Julie Wetherill, spokesperson for the project's steering committee.

The University libraries' old system does not have the capacity to use certain applications, according to a HOLLIS II progress report.

The new system features the ability to exchange electronic order and payment data with vendors, to fully support inter-library loan and document delivery standards, and to provide a World Wide Web-based public catalog.

The project, which began late last summer, involves a complete analysis of the current system by early March, Wetherill said.

The first phase of analysis includes finalizing lists of functions that will be desirable or required in the new system.

The lists will be used to select three or four commercial vendors to develop and install the system, according to Wetherill.

In the second phase, task groups will take a more in-depth look at possible vendors.

The steering committee will make a final recommendation to the University regarding which vendor's system it should implement, according to the report.

The last phase, conversion and implementation to the new system, is planned to take place between November 1997 and January 1999.

"It's going to take a lot of our energies and consume a lot of our time," Wetherill said. "There is a lot of potential for the project, though it is hard to say exactly what it is yet because of the early stage at which we are."

Task forces requested input from students about the project through surveys this month.