Two Diag frequenters take a swig from a brown paper bag. The Regents could outlaw scenes like this if they approve a
ban on alcohol in the Diag area at today's meeting.
Re ents to vote on policy
y - Thursday, July 14, 1983 - Page 3
Libraries
get new
eireulation
system
By DAN GRANTHAM
University library officials say they
hope to cut costs and keep better track
of books and fines next fall with a new
computerized circulation system.
The new computer, dubbed "GEAC"
after the firm that manufactures it, is
currently used at the reserve desk in
the Undergraduate Library.
RICHARD Dougherty, director of the
University Libraries, said the system
should be in operation at the Un-
dergraduate, Graduate, Medical, and
Natural Science libraries next fall, with
plans to install it in more campus
libraries later.
The system, which Dougherty called
"a big step forward for the library,"
will require several changes in the way
books are checked out of the library.
Students will first have to obtain a sticker
imprinted with a special bar code to af-
fix to their University identification
cards.
Library staffers will then use a light
wand to read and record the bar code on
the user's card and similar stickers on
the books to be checked out.
IN ADDITION to cutting down the
time it takes to check out a book, the
GEAC system will tell its users quickly
if a book is in circulation, said Jim
Cruse, head of circulation for the
University libraries.
Currently, library staff most pore
over microfiche the University com-
piles to see if a book has been checked
out. But Cruse said the new system will
tell users almost immediately if the
book is in circulation or if it is in storage
somewhere.
The system will also help library per-
sonnel keep better track of users who
haven't paid fines, said David Norden,
head of the Undergraduate Library.
Norden said that when a user's bar code
is entered into the computer, the
machine will scan patron's records to
see if they must pay a fine before they
can check out a book.
See GEAC, Page 7
banning alcohol
By HALLE CZECHOWSKI
Those cool, refreshing Stroh's
may soon become a thing of the past
for Diag lovers.
The University Regents will vote
on an ordinance today that would
prohibit drinking on the property
surrounded by State Street, East
University, North University, and
South University.
IF THE vote goes through, "that
would piss a whole lot of people off,"
said one woman wearing a faded
sundress. "They've already banned
us from the parks."
Currently the city ordinance ban-
ning drinking in public areas cannot
be enforced by police unless the
University asks them to, according
to City Administrator Godfrey
Collins.
If the Regents agree to the or-
dinance, police can enforce it and
Diag drinkers could be fined $100.
THAT prospect doesn't please
David Reed, a graduate student in-
political science, "This is a nice
mellow place, we don't need cops
walking around here handing out
tickets to the bums," he said.
But some students are not
bothered by the resolution. "It
wouldn't bother me at all, it's mostly
the town people that drink here,"
said Larry Chickola, an engineering
sophomore.
Some students worried that the
ordinance would force the street
people into other areas of the Un-
iversity.
"THEY'LL just go someplace
else, like Lane Hall," said Doug
Jacobs an LSA Senior.
Ann Arbor Police Major Robert
Whitaker said he felt the ordinance
would simply push the street people
into another part of the city.
Obviously whatever pressure we
on Diag
put on the place will force the people
there to move someplace else," he
said. "Those people live there, out of
a shopping cart, bag, whatever."
THE DRIVE to prohibit
drinking in the Diag comes in a
large degree from problems with
non-university people especially
since the city banned drinking in
several parks in May.
Walt Stevens, director of the Un-
iversity's Department of Public
Safety and Security who proposed
the ordinance said drinking in the
Diag "is kind of a continuous
problem. (Non-university persons)
have found a haven in our area
because we don't have the ordinance
to cover the problem."
Some people mourned the impen-
ding loss of a place to go to get away
from it all on a boring summer
night. "It's a nice place to sit out and
drink late at night," said Jay Ken-
nedy, an Ann Arbor resident.
Rack ham dean,
By KAREN TENSA
This week the Regents will be asked to name Alfred Sussman
to head the University's graduate programs and research of-
fices in an experimental merger of the two posts.
Sussman, the current dean of the Rackham School of
Graduate Studies, would now step into the shoes of retiring
Vice-President for Research Charles Overberger as well.
SUSSMAN said that although the merger of the two offices
will eliminate Overberger's administrative salary, the main
goal is to reduce the duplication of services.
The overlap, he said occurs because research is now an in-
tegral part of graduate studies, and grants pass through the
research offices as well as through Rackham.
If the Regents approve his new post as interim vice-
president for graduate studies and research, Sussman will
head a planning committee to analyze the effectiveness of the
merger.
HE WILL hold the post until his retirement in early 1984,
but Sussman said the jobs will be split again, if the ex-
periment doesn't work out.
Although the merger should help coordinate the two offices,
Sussman said he is somewhat concerned that humanities in
the graduate school may play second fiddle to sciences if the
merger becomes permanent.
research post may combine
"The job of vice president for research is usually held by a
physical scientist," he said. "With the combined post, the
dean of Rackham will probably never be a humanities
specialist."
SUSSMAN IS a botanist, and Overberger is a chemist.
"The interests of students and faculty in humanities
programs must be considered in decisions," Sussman said.
Although the merger is termed experimental, it is not the
first time it's been tried. Ralph Sawyer, a physics professor,
held offices from 190 until his retirement in 1965.
UNIVERSITY President Harold Shapiro said the planning
group of faculty and graduate students working under
Sussman will also make recommendations on possible
reorganization of the graduate school and the research
programs.
A review of Rackham was announced early in 1982, and
that will now be part of the planning group's responsibility.
Overberger resigned as vice president for research in
March, but he has continued to act as vice president. He is
now returning to his work as a chemistry professor, and
plans to help raise funds for the new chemistry building.
Sussman came to the University in 1950 as a botany professor Sussman
and leading expert in cellular biology. He was chairman of the
See REGENTS, Page 5 ... takes over post