Library Patrons

Baltimore library patrons will not receive advance warning about branch closings after Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke said yesterday that he won't sign a bill requiring public hearings on the shutdowns.The legislation, sponsored by Councilman Martin O'Malley of the 3rd District, was passed last month by the council and would have required the Enoch Pratt Free Library to justify branch closings through public forums.The bill was created after the library closed two of its 28 branches -- in Charles Village and Morrell Park -- last summer.

Patrons at the Westminster library will find computer searches for books quicker and checkout lines shorter when a wireless data communication system is installed this spring.The system, which will transmit data through the air rather than over telephone lines, is "pretty cool," said Scott Reinhart, the library's director of automation, support and technical services.The $40,000 system will link the Westminster branch in the first block of E. Main St. to library headquarters on Airport Drive via Western Maryland College's Hoover Library.

The Howard County library is selling a cutting-edge database service designed to enhance how the knowledge-hungry gather information while chiseling a new niche for area libraries.For $85 a year, 'Round the Clock DataNet can connect library patrons throughout Maryland to 27 business and educational databases 24 hours a day in their homes and offices.Heralded by library administrators as a one-of-a-kind information system, DataNet illustrates the changing role of libraries -- from free purveyors of books and periodicals to sellers of expanded technology used beyond the library's walls.

When the doors of Enoch Pratt Free Library opened yesterday, the public saw the results of what Pratt Director Carla D. Hayden described as "a quantum leap into the 21st century."The Pratt unveiled a computer system that allows library patrons all over the city to reach the World Wide Web, search the library's collection of 2.1 million books and other resources, and find information from colleges, universities and 3,000 community information providers.Early reviews were positive."I like the new system," said Miguel Diggs, 18, of Rosedale.

Carroll County public library patrons should soon be able to pick up their telephone to renew books and conduct other circulation-related functions.A new telephone-computer system called TeleCirc will enable the library to deliver electronic notices and accept calls from library users. Using a personal identification number, patrons will be able to renew overdue books, get a list of materials they've checked out, and cancel or confirm items on hold."[The system] is going to speed up the notification of when a book is ready for people which will add to the circulation of popular items," said Scott Reinhart, director of automation, support and technical services for the library.

To bolster the financial future of Carroll County's public libraries, the library system's board of trustees has approved the creation of an endowment to pay for renovation and expansion work and other projects.The board last week approved an agreement with the Community Foundation of Carroll County to manage the fund, which will be established with $6,000 in donations to the library, mainly from residents."We are looking for ways to make our limited resources go a little farther and attract some additional funds that aren't directly related to texts," said Scott Reinhart, assistant director of the county's library system.

In the wake of a teen-ager's rape near the Howard County Central Library in the spring, police and library officials reviewed the library's security situation. But three months later, officials still are refusing to reveal the results of that review and whether changes recommended by police have been adopted by the library."The library may or may not do some things as suggested in the report. And if we make [the recommendations] public, we would alert the bad guys," County Executive Charles I. Ecker explained this week.

In the wake of a teen-ager's rape near Howard County Central Library in the spring, police and library officials reviewed the library's security situation. But three months later, officials still 44 are refusing to reveal the results of that review and whether changes recommended by police have been adopted by the library."The library may or may not do some things as suggested in the report. And if we make [the recommendations] public, we would alert the bad guys," County Executive Charles I. Ecker explained this week.

Nine months since the Carroll County library system introduced Internet access at its five branches, library officials are making plans to expand the range of on-line information services.Within two months, library users will be able to link up to the World Wide Web, a fast-growing graphic-oriented segment of the Internet.Computer terminals in the county's library branches already provide access to text on the Internet, a worldwide network used by an estimated 30 million people. New software will allow county library users to tap into the graphically designed Web sites.

With the days of the honor system long gone, the Howard County Library is throwing the book at lax patrons.In the past two years, the library -- backed by the county Office of Law -- has obtained civil judgments against nearly 60 patrons, requiring many to pay hundreds of dollars in fines for keeping library materials long past their due dates.Until the mid-1980s, the library would just send bills tallying late fees and the cost of unreturned materials to careless borrowers, said Betty Crader, head of the library's circulation department.