By the 2002-2003 academic year, the Harvard Online Library Information System (HOLLIS) will be replaced with a state-of-the-art, web-based catalog system called ALEPH 500. At least that's the plan, according to library administrators.

But if something goes wrong, it will not be the first time that plans for a HOLLIS replacement have fallen through.

A HOLLIS replacement has been in the works since 1994, when a library report called for an update to a system which was described as "a cumbersome tool in a networked world." The report recommended that a new system be put in place by early 1997. Since that report, the project has been repeatedly postponed.

Failure to complete the 1994 project was followed by plans for a HOLLIS replacement on track to be released in July of 1999. However, flaws in a version of the program tested at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) caused Harvard to pull out of the deal. The new system has been in the works ever since.

In the interim, students, faculty and staff have been stuck with a system that library representatives agree is antiquated and difficult to learn. The HOLLIS version was designed only for telnet, and although it was made web-accessible in 2000, the web-based version of the catalog added little to the original design.

What's New With HOLLIS II

The HOLLIS II program, ALEPH 500, will be a completely web-based system--a shift that promises to make it a more user-friendly application, according to Susan Lee, chair of the HOLLIS Steering Committee. She said searches will become much more straightforward on the new system.

The largest change will be to make much more information easily accessible to HOLLIS users.