Mary Ann Gini volunteered OPRF High School as the site of the next meeting, to be held February 29.

1) Ted Field opened the meeting with a demonstration of OPPL's library's almost-ready online public access catalog (OPAC), a.k.a. ERNIE. Some features that struck this listener as interesting:

• telnet and dial-in access
• potential for patrons to place holds from home
• touch tone phone access to patron's circulation records
• potential for user-created bibliographies that remain on system for several days
• capability to provide community information through the OPAC
• unified database for acquisitions, cataloging, circulation, and public access
• continuous, instantaneous backup
• customizable interface so library can respond to patron feedback
• continued access to suburban library system database.

Re. the schools, Steve Hurder reported that he hosted a hands-on Internet session at UIC for 32 teachers from District 97, 4 teachers from Chicago, and the head of technology for the Chicago schools. The emphasis was on how the Net can support the curriculum. He expects to repeat the workshop.

Also, the District 97 curriculum handbook is available on the Oak Park Tourist page. It is now set up so parents and kids can submit addresses of Internet sites relevant to particular areas.

The general opinion was that it is important to show the community productive uses for the Net. This is easy in the case of schools.

In this vein, it was suggested that tax-time panic could be good way to convince people: all those obscure tax forms are available instantly. The library could have a machine with a Web page set up with bookmarks to these forms. A risk would be excessive paper costs, but perhaps the Friends of the Library could fund the paper supply as an experiment.

3) Business involvement remains a sticky issue. One message that needs to be conveyed is that with the Net you can live in OP or RF and have a high business profile without paying downtown rent. The question is how to reach local small businesses with this message. The OP Chamber of Commerce has so far been unresponsive, but that may change as the new president gets up to speed. The previous library director chose to develop a small business focus, and that may continue when a new director is hired. An orientation session just for Chamber members would be a good idea. They also need to see what other Chambers are doing.

4) The OP Visitors' Bureau is apparently interested in getting on the Net and has a group discussing possibilities, but they aren't quite sure what they want to do and how to get there.

Submitted by Jane Andrew, 1/3/96