Joe O'Connell has seen drivers' licenses from almost all 50 states, but he said none compare to the new Pennsylvania driver's license.

"I think they're the best I've seen of any state," said O'Connell, a doorman at Zeno's, 100 W. College Ave.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation began issuing the new licenses Dec. 6, and the last of the old style licenses were issued on Dec. 30., said Donald Thomas, manager of the Driver License Division.

Several noticeable changes made to the licenses to help prevent counterfeiting include:

-- Enlarging the driver's license number and printing it in red above the photograph, which signifies that the person is under 21.

-- Adding a magnetic strip to the back of the card.

Now when the license is used in a magnetic reader, all the information on the front of the card will be available to ease processing, Thomas said.

The new driver's cards also have a new three-dimensional hologram, which displays the names of every county in Pennsylvania, said Doug Tobin, director of the Bureau of Driver Licensing. The new licenses are made with more durable plastic and are manufactured much like credit cards, he said.

"It's a more secure document, more difficult to tamper with, higher quality product," Thomas said.

Royal Dimond (junior-accounting), a bartender at Stoney's Posthouse Tavern, 146 N. Atherton St., has already seen two of the new licenses. He said it would be easier to see if they were duplicated.

"(Old licenses) were just a little too easy to tamper with sometimes," Dimond said.

State College Police Department Lt. Carmine Prestia said because the new licenses are harder to duplicate they will cost more to illegally reproduce them. This tends to drive up the market, he added.

Other State College bars have also handled the new licenses.

"They're starting to pop up a little bit," said Dean Usner, an employee at the All-American Rathskeller, 108 S. Pugh St.

All the old ways to fake identifications would be impossible, O'Connell said.

Some students who have heard about or seen the new licenses said they think they are better.

"I think it's a good idea. I think it's gonna keep kids out of trouble," said Thomas Watt (junior-chemical engineering).

Shawn Burns (sophomore-forest science), who has a new license, said he likes it. It is also easier to replace a lost or stolen license, Burns said.

Tobin said one advantage of the new license is that each person's picture is kept on file in a computer allowing the customer to get a new license without having to get another picture taken.

Customers can also look at the picture to see if he or she likes it before it is placed on the actual card, he said.

The magnetic strip on the back of the card has not yet been put to use in the state, but this strip could make it easier for police to crack down on fraudulent licenses and underage drinking, Tobin said.