Spartanburg County Public Libraries' computer system remained down Wednesday after a ransomware attack earlier in the week, but staff members have begun checking out books by hand, the library director said.
“We’re going old-school," Spartanburg County Librarian Todd Stephens said. "The key is to keep moving forward, and our attitudes are in the right place.”
He said it might not be until next week when technicians fully restore the computers, which were taken down Monday after hackers demanded some $36,000 in bitcoin payment to unlock the system’s data.
Stephens said he had no intention of complying with the demand, and that library technicians have been working to bring back to full operation the 13 of the 23 servers affected.
The outage has temporarily halted all access to the online catalog and website for the main library and all 10 branches.
Those who use credit cards to pay library fines can still do so because they are handled by a third-party vendor, Stephens said.
Stephens said further updates will be provided on the library’s Facebook page.