“We want to make a library system where the decentralization is invisible to the user,” he said.
Verba said cost of the new system is “in the range of a couple of million,” but added that the cost “is difficult to calculate” and “for something of this sort it is not very high.”
In addition, new technology allows HOLLIS to be more easily updated than the previous system, which was “not malleable,” according to Verba.
“This is a much more modular system,” Verba said. “We assume you can take parts out and plug some others in.”
This change comes at a time of year when the Harvard libraries have the least use, so if any problems arise in the transition, the impact will be minimal, Verba said.
So far, the transition has been “incredibly smooth,” Verba said. Comments from professors and students alike have all been positive.
“Bugs here and there are inevitable in a new system,” he said. But so far no problems have been reported in the new HOLLIS.
—Staff writer Stephanie M. Skier can be reached at skier@fas.harvard.edu.