As far as my unofficial survey of libraries using WiFi, I only got a few responses. Most libraries said they disable their WiFi when the building itself isn’t open, citing security and bandwidth concerns. A few just leave their access point open and said they don’t care who is using it. A few have patron-only authentication. Some are part of campus-wide systems where the library is one of many nodes and they do nothing particular as “the library” as opposed to part of the WiFi network. It’s a whole new paradigm. Along those same lines, here’s a column about things to consider when securing WiFI in a public library
Author: jessamyn
rss feed of library books
Creating an RSS feed of the books you have checked out of the library, a neat tool from Peter R. Steven thinks he should contact Dynix and other vendors to show this tool off. I’d love to see it integrated into an OPAC but with our Sirsi OPAC, I’m just hoping for Netscape 7.1 support.
anarchist librarian Chuck0 makes the big time
My pal — librarian Chuck Munson — has hit the big time and gives a small interview to the New York Times talking about anarchism and the RNC. Close readers will notice that he got his plane ticket to the RNC from getting bumped from a flight at ALA.
maybe what the ala web site needs is blogs?
Michael would like to see the ALA web site have blogs. I would just like to see the site have a well-functioning search engine, not say things like “the content should be here in mid-August” in late August, and not have pages like this or this or an organizational FAQ like this. If you’d like to know what progress is being made, you can check the ALA Website Advisory Committee Documents and their list of weighted priorities and of course, the status report.
IM is a force to be reckoned with – does it have a place in your library?
Aaron and TechnoBiblio discuss the results of AOL’s Second Annual IM Survey and what it might mean for reference services especially in libraries that haven’t chosen yet to do virtual reference. Now, granted, a “trends” survey is a different animal than an actual scientific survey, and AOL has much to gain by people thinking that it and other IM clients are fairly ubiquitous. However, it’s hard to deny the numbers. I’m an old lady and I’m sure I send more IMs than I do email [although I also think that’s a false distinction in many ways] and I would use it a lot more if more people I knew were using it. Remember, it’s not just an AOL thing. There are many open source clients that you can use, even to chat with your pals on AIM. I would like to see some real numbers comparing libraries that use virtual reference software and libraries that use IM clients for chat reference comparing cost, usage, ease-of-use, and overall successfulness.