ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 8, 1995 TAG: 9512080068
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A17 EDITION: METRO
VTLS Inc., a library automation firm in Blacksburg, has received a contract to provide software for the automation of the Berlin government library in Germany. The Senatsbibliothek in Berlin has purchased VTLS's basic Windows-based software package with on-line public access to the library catalog, circulation control, keyword searching and other features. Because the system has never been automated, VTLS is also providing two other software products to allow library patrons and staff to access newly scanned catalog cards.
The library, formed in 1948, is unique in that the majority of its 460,000 volumes and 4,000 periodicals are not commercially published material but rather government documents.
VTLS is working with Hewlett-Packard, the computer equipment provider, and EDS, the project coordinator. - Staff report Coin machines coming to Kroger
The Kroger Co. and Bellevue, Wash.-based Coinstar Inc. said Thursday that Coinstar will install coins-to-cash machines in 12 Kroger supermarkets in the Roanoke and New River valleys.
The self-service machines, which will be in stores later this month, will automatically sort and count a customer's coins, then give the customer a voucher that can be exchanged at the checkout for groceries or cash. A service charge will be deducted for processing the coins.
The machines will be installed in 21 locations in Kroger's Mid-Atlantic region as part of a national rollout being conducted by Coinstar, which currently operates in more than 200 locations across the country. - Staff report Chrysler dividend up 20 percent
DETROIT - Chrysler Corp. declared a 20 percent increase in the company's stock dividend Thursday and said it had finished a $1 billion stock repurchase program announced a year ago.
Dissident shareholder Kirk Kerkorian, who tried to take over the automaker in April and has been pressing it to share more wealth with stockholders, issued a statement calling the action ``another small step in the right direction.''
For Kerkorian, who owns 51.9 million shares of Chrysler, that ``small step'' is worth an extra $5.19 million a quarter.
Chrysler's quarterly dividend rises 10 cents a share, to 60 cents, payable Jan. 12 to shareholders of Dec. 15.
Mortgage lateness reaches 2-year high
WASHINGTON - The percentage of homeowners behind in their mortgage payments rose during the third quarter to the highest level in more than two years. Delinquencies increased in all regions except the Northeast.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday its survey showed the seasonally adjusted delinquency rate on one- to four-unit homes was 4.24 percent.
The rate was up from 4.15 percent during the April-June quarter and the highest since a 4.26 percent rate in the second quarter of 1993.
The increase was the second straight and may be signaling the recent downward trend has reached its cyclical bottom, said Paul S. Reid, the association president. The rate stood at 3.91 percent from January through March.
The biggest past-due increase was in 30-day delinquencies, which rose to 2.86 percent from 2.75 percent in the second quarter.
Regionally, the delinquency rate in the Northeast fell to 4.33 percent from 4.36 percent. But rates rose elsewhere - to 4.79 percent from 4.67 percent in the South, to 3.69 percent from 3.59 percent in the North Central region, and to 3.69 percent from 3.67 percent in the West. - Associated Press
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