Dial-Up Outstrips On-Site Catalog Use.

This article provides information on the dial-up access service of the Cuyahoga County Public Library system in Ohio. During the first year of the service in 1989, the dial-up access link (Easy Access Catalog) to the library's online catalog received a respectable 66,548 calls. At its most recent count, that number has grown to a whopping 215,258, or 36,743 more requests than at the busiest of the system's 29 branches. Easy Access allows anyone with a personal computer 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week access to search the catalog or to make reserves. Though the increased workload has been difficult, the library is happy about its annual 12-15 percent increases in circulation due to the dial-up service.