UCLA signed on with DRA to provide it with a new integrated library system called ORION2, similar to Harvard's HOLLIS. But the new system, which was supposed to be running by Sept. 27, is still not on-line.

Last-minute modifications to the system "had the unintended effect of dramatically slowing response times on the online catalog to an unacceptable level," according to a UCLA library web site.

At the same time, UCLA's original system, ORION, is disabled due to Y2K difficulties. Since ORION could not recognize due-dates after December 1999, it could not keep track of circulation and had to be shut down.

UCLA is left without a library computer system until ORION2 comes on-line and administrators have not announced a new anticipated start date.

In a November library bulletin, Pforzheimer University Professor and Director of the University Library Sidney Verba '53 said the Taos system remains "a potential system for us, but not one to which we can yet make a commitment."

The announcement also said Harvard was exploring other options. According to Robinson, those included systems created by the Ex Libris group and CTI, a Canadian firm.

The problem, Robinson said, is that