SAM and Other News
The meeting with the librarians went as planned on Wednesday. All but two of them were present and the presentation went very well. Some were very excited about automating the process of using SAM (Smart Access Manager) by Comprise to handle managing PC and Print Management.
While there were still many questions to be asked before we even thought about asking for a quote, this was a major step forward. They were equally excited about public wireless and the faster T1 connections.
What they were not so happy about, and beyond our control, was the item circulation software. SirsiDynix has decided to halt development of Horizon (our client) and combine Horizon and another (cheaper) Client, Unicorn, into a single product called "Rome." This means that in two years, we're going to end up switching to something else. The Valley Library Consortium is already researching a replacement.
As for the speed and freezing issues, we're hoping the upgrades we're going to get this summer will solve some of the problems we've had.
The schedule for deployment will be as follows (roughly):
June 2007 - Receive feedback from library staff, answer questions, and establish location requirements
July 2007 - Upgrade all Internet connections to full T1s and deploy WifiDog hotspots at all locations
August/September 2007 - Deploy SAM only at heavy use branches.
Given that SAM is a product that I have (at present) little or no experience with, this will require a learning curve for me at first. This will change as the software and hardware is installed and configured. We all all hoping for a relatively painless and glitch-less deployment. As for the patrons and staff, the learning curve for actually using the system should be considerably less. Proper setup is the key to making this work.
For more information about SAM, you can visit Comprise Technologies. All their product data sheets are available online. While we will be considering stand-alone stations for releasing print jobs and reserving PCs and even electronic signs for announcing wait times, we will not be using anything outside the scope of printing and computers. All payments for printing and paying fines will be cash only; we are not going to get into handling credit cards or personal checks.
As for our public wireless service, we will still be using WifiDog, and this will be a separate system from SAM. I urge potential users and staff to read our Wiki entry about the topic.
You will find information about the hardware and software used, as well as some general guidelines for use. We are going to have more formal usage guidelines published when the other hotspots are deployed, but what's in the wiki is relevant. What is currently not clear are certain guidelines that haven't been discussed at length yet.
While there were still many questions to be asked before we even thought about asking for a quote, this was a major step forward. They were equally excited about public wireless and the faster T1 connections.
What they were not so happy about, and beyond our control, was the item circulation software. SirsiDynix has decided to halt development of Horizon (our client) and combine Horizon and another (cheaper) Client, Unicorn, into a single product called "Rome." This means that in two years, we're going to end up switching to something else. The Valley Library Consortium is already researching a replacement.
As for the speed and freezing issues, we're hoping the upgrades we're going to get this summer will solve some of the problems we've had.
The schedule for deployment will be as follows (roughly):
June 2007 - Receive feedback from library staff, answer questions, and establish location requirements
July 2007 - Upgrade all Internet connections to full T1s and deploy WifiDog hotspots at all locations
August/September 2007 - Deploy SAM only at heavy use branches.
Given that SAM is a product that I have (at present) little or no experience with, this will require a learning curve for me at first. This will change as the software and hardware is installed and configured. We all all hoping for a relatively painless and glitch-less deployment. As for the patrons and staff, the learning curve for actually using the system should be considerably less. Proper setup is the key to making this work.
For more information about SAM, you can visit Comprise Technologies. All their product data sheets are available online. While we will be considering stand-alone stations for releasing print jobs and reserving PCs and even electronic signs for announcing wait times, we will not be using anything outside the scope of printing and computers. All payments for printing and paying fines will be cash only; we are not going to get into handling credit cards or personal checks.
As for our public wireless service, we will still be using WifiDog, and this will be a separate system from SAM. I urge potential users and staff to read our Wiki entry about the topic.
You will find information about the hardware and software used, as well as some general guidelines for use. We are going to have more formal usage guidelines published when the other hotspots are deployed, but what's in the wiki is relevant. What is currently not clear are certain guidelines that haven't been discussed at length yet.
posted by Technology Coordinator at 3:52 PM
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