High winds and a possible power surge Saturday were likely the cause of a system wide hard drive crash for the Kitsap Regional Library system this week, said KRL Director of Community Relations Jeff Brody.

With the computerized system disabled, library staff, including those at the Bainbridge branch, were unable to check in books and media for four days. Staff was still able to check out new items by scanning the barcode and inputting the information into an offline system.

Users also were unable to renew items online while the system was down.

The system was back up Thursday morning for staff to begin the process of integrating the offline transactions into the regional-wide system.

When the catalog goes live again, the system will reflect items checked out since Saturday.

“Fines for overdue materials will not be assessed for the affected days,” Brody said.

“We handle about 1,500 transactions a day,” Bainbridge Branch Manager Rebecca Judd said Tuesday.

Mondays are particularly busy days for the library said Brody, and even more so now that the library is closed on Sundays.

In response to a tightening budget, KRL made the decision to cut Sunday hours, affecting the four branches which were open Sundays, including the Bainbridge branch.

For more information, visit www.bainbridgelibrary.org or krl.org.