Others laud the move to direct access.

"There were mistakes in last year's catalogthat could have been prevented," says Teresa T.Wu, administrator in the Department of Classics."We're ready for the change."

But with the system in testing now, andtraining to begin in April, the change may cometoo quickly.

With a month between the end of HERS-2 trainingand Commencement--the traditional due date fordepartmental catalog entries--some worry thatthere will not be sufficient time to complete theCatalog.

And a handful of administrators--includingthose in Anthropology and Celtic Language andLiterature--note that their offices are notequipped with the technology to handle HERS-2.

"I keep asking for money to update my reallyold computer system," says Margo M. Granfors,administrative assistant in the Celtic Languageand Literature department who works on a 486IBM-clone that runs Windows 3.1 on eight megabytesof RAM.

Ledeen recommends machines with 32 megabytes ofmemory for those departments purchasing newcomputers.

"I'm trying to upgrade...it's not by choice[that I haven't]," Granfors says. Her currentcomputer will not allow her to use HERS-2.

But if given a suitable computer, Granfors saysshe is confident that Barker Center technicalsupport--namely Sharon L. Copperwheat--would beable to provide assistance in the face of computerglitches.

As an administrator working in the BarkerCenter, Feldman says she finds the technicalsupport to be "extraordinarily helpful andprompt," but realizes that "other departmentsdon't have that."

Ensconced in Hilles Library, Susan J. Borges,administrator for the committee on degrees insocial studies, says Cook has made an otherwise"scary process" wonderful.

"It all goes back to Joe Cook. Before, thecatalog process felt impersonal and out of mycontrol completely," Borges says, noting that thefeeling of isolation naturally worsens as the Webreplaces human interaction.

But, she says, this move to further reliance onthe Web does not bother her.

"I'm not nervous because Joe is attached tothis project," she says.

Borges says she looks forward to theopportunity to participate in a more efficientsystem. "This is all wonderful and also veryscary...now the buck is going to stop here," shesays.