Library officials expected the Harvard On-line Library Information System (HOLLIS) to be replaced by a brand-new system more than four months ago, but due to technical problems, library officials said they have no idea when the changeover will take place.

After a nearly identical system floundered when it was installed at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) this fall, Harvard administrators chose not to renew a contract with the system's architect.

Harvard signed a letter of intent in June 1998 with Data Research Associates (DRA), a St. Louis-based firm that designs library computer systems. The letter said that the parties had agreed to negotiate a contract for Harvard to purchase DRA's Taos system.

Following what officials termed a series of failures, Harvard chose not to renew its agreement with DRA.

"The letter of intent has expired. We renewed it once," Robinson said.

Under the plan agreed upon in 1998, the new system, which would be known as HOLLIS II, was supposed to be operational by July 1999.

The letter also contained performance criteria for DRA's work at UCLA, which Harvard now says the firm failed to meet.

"[The performance criterion] was to have the system up and running, and they still don't have the system up and running. By any measurable standard they are not fully operational," said Tracey Robinson, assistant director for systems management for the Harvard University Library.