I enjoyed my visit to the Thomaston Public Library and find the UMA course work is helping me to feel more prepared to venture into the world of Library Media Specialist. The library is quite typical of public libraries in rural Maine and does a good job with the resources available. I am reminded that funding will most likely be a continuing topic of concern and expertise in grant writing and publicity would be helpful. I found it interesting that currently a master's degree in Library Science is not required to be the library director.
It was also enjoyable and heartwarming to see a former student successfully working in his chosen field of Information and Library Science. It reminds me why I love working in a school library.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Library Visit
On April 6th I met with the Head Librarian of the Thomaston Public Library, Brian Sylvester. As the library has been rearranged over the past year, he gave me a tour of the facility, which allowed me to see the new layout for the book stacks and the public computers.
With a current annual technology budget of $1020, the library relies heavily on funds provided by the “Friends of the Thomaston Public Library,” a volunteer group who raises funds for library projects. Through generous grants from this organization and other grants, the library now has thirteen patron PC computer stations throughout the library. The official Computer Use Policy is pending approval of the Board; however, the informal policy is one-half hour of use per person, which would only be enforced in a situation where patrons are in line waiting to use them.
Internet access if provided through the Maine State Library Network. It is delivered via a T1 line at a rate of 100 mbs. Three wireless routers are placed throughout the building for hot spots that extend to the entire building and into the parking lot. The network provides open access without passwords and cars are sometimes seen in the parking lot at night utilizing this free library resource.
The library network currently is set up peer-to-peer networking for the cataloging software, currently Surpass / Web Safari for the past four years. This is available for library staff at the circulation desk, the children’s librarian computer, and in the head librarian’s office. Brian is not particularly happy with the program and would switch to the Minerva system if the funds were available. There is also a $600 annual technology software fee for Surpass that has to come from his operating budget; this does not leave much for repairs and maintenance, let alone upgrades.
A new dedicated client server has been purchased but is not yet fully set up. It is a Protion dual core 2.13 gHz with 2 gb RAM with Windows Server XP 2003 software and Norton Anti-Virus. We talked about the advantages of using a dedicated server to streamline computer maintenance. Patrons do not have privileges to download games, movies, or MP3. They can request access to download these, but Brian has to enter the administrative passwords to enable them to do so. Although it is somewhat labor intensive, he feels it is worth it to keep the computers more clutter-free and virus-free. All updates have to be handled individually on each computer, so installing updates through a client server will be time-saving once that is configured.
Library computers are IBM Pentium IV 2.4 gHz with 512 RAM and a 40 gb hard drive, which are about four years old. AVG anti-virus software is run on all PCs. Staff have a common log-on for the circulation desk. There are five part-time positions held: head librarian (32 hours), children’s librarian (30 hours), three part-time staff, and three volunteer staff. The library opens at 11 a.m. daily and closes at 5 p.m. except on Monday and Wednesday when it closes at 7 p.m. and Saturday when it closes at 3 p.m.
Mozilla Thunderbird is used for the library email system, an open source service (which works much like Microsoft Outlook). The library recently acquired licenses for Microsoft Office because Open Office (open source software) has been installed previously and kept crashing the PCs. Word was a welcome upgrade.
As Head Librarian, Brian is also the IT guy who maintains the webpage, does technology training, troubleshoots, and keeps the computer systems going. The webpage includes current events, new stuff, a Google calendar, pictures on Flickr, and two blogs that he writes. There are no RSS feeds or IM reference, although people are welcome to email the library with questions. Their library automation system actually allows comments, but he says no one leaves any. People can also comment on the Flickr pictures if they so choose.
When the library was rearranged, new areas for the computers were configured. There are six stations set up for walk-up use and bar stools are available for longer use. Brian indicated this hasn’t really been effective. People don’t care for the stools and seldom come and stand. In the other area the station is set up to be handicap accessible and accommodates those who are visually impaired by having larger fonts and screens. These stations seem to get more use. There are plenty of outlets that were added as part of the renovation.
The library also created a new children’s room apart from the main library. It was the hope that youth would congregate there; however, the design looks a bit childish so the teens / pre-teens still use the main library. He hopes to convince the board to make it more appealing for the older age group. There is an expanding DVD and audiobook section as well. The vast MARVEL database is the only one serving the TPL community due to the limited budget and high cost of subscription databases.
The library is in the old Thomaston Academy and lends historic beauty and charm to the experience while offering access to modern technology.
With a current annual technology budget of $1020, the library relies heavily on funds provided by the “Friends of the Thomaston Public Library,” a volunteer group who raises funds for library projects. Through generous grants from this organization and other grants, the library now has thirteen patron PC computer stations throughout the library. The official Computer Use Policy is pending approval of the Board; however, the informal policy is one-half hour of use per person, which would only be enforced in a situation where patrons are in line waiting to use them.
Internet access if provided through the Maine State Library Network. It is delivered via a T1 line at a rate of 100 mbs. Three wireless routers are placed throughout the building for hot spots that extend to the entire building and into the parking lot. The network provides open access without passwords and cars are sometimes seen in the parking lot at night utilizing this free library resource.
The library network currently is set up peer-to-peer networking for the cataloging software, currently Surpass / Web Safari for the past four years. This is available for library staff at the circulation desk, the children’s librarian computer, and in the head librarian’s office. Brian is not particularly happy with the program and would switch to the Minerva system if the funds were available. There is also a $600 annual technology software fee for Surpass that has to come from his operating budget; this does not leave much for repairs and maintenance, let alone upgrades.
A new dedicated client server has been purchased but is not yet fully set up. It is a Protion dual core 2.13 gHz with 2 gb RAM with Windows Server XP 2003 software and Norton Anti-Virus. We talked about the advantages of using a dedicated server to streamline computer maintenance. Patrons do not have privileges to download games, movies, or MP3. They can request access to download these, but Brian has to enter the administrative passwords to enable them to do so. Although it is somewhat labor intensive, he feels it is worth it to keep the computers more clutter-free and virus-free. All updates have to be handled individually on each computer, so installing updates through a client server will be time-saving once that is configured.
Library computers are IBM Pentium IV 2.4 gHz with 512 RAM and a 40 gb hard drive, which are about four years old. AVG anti-virus software is run on all PCs. Staff have a common log-on for the circulation desk. There are five part-time positions held: head librarian (32 hours), children’s librarian (30 hours), three part-time staff, and three volunteer staff. The library opens at 11 a.m. daily and closes at 5 p.m. except on Monday and Wednesday when it closes at 7 p.m. and Saturday when it closes at 3 p.m.
Mozilla Thunderbird is used for the library email system, an open source service (which works much like Microsoft Outlook). The library recently acquired licenses for Microsoft Office because Open Office (open source software) has been installed previously and kept crashing the PCs. Word was a welcome upgrade.
As Head Librarian, Brian is also the IT guy who maintains the webpage, does technology training, troubleshoots, and keeps the computer systems going. The webpage includes current events, new stuff, a Google calendar, pictures on Flickr, and two blogs that he writes. There are no RSS feeds or IM reference, although people are welcome to email the library with questions. Their library automation system actually allows comments, but he says no one leaves any. People can also comment on the Flickr pictures if they so choose.
When the library was rearranged, new areas for the computers were configured. There are six stations set up for walk-up use and bar stools are available for longer use. Brian indicated this hasn’t really been effective. People don’t care for the stools and seldom come and stand. In the other area the station is set up to be handicap accessible and accommodates those who are visually impaired by having larger fonts and screens. These stations seem to get more use. There are plenty of outlets that were added as part of the renovation.
The library also created a new children’s room apart from the main library. It was the hope that youth would congregate there; however, the design looks a bit childish so the teens / pre-teens still use the main library. He hopes to convince the board to make it more appealing for the older age group. There is an expanding DVD and audiobook section as well. The vast MARVEL database is the only one serving the TPL community due to the limited budget and high cost of subscription databases.
The library is in the old Thomaston Academy and lends historic beauty and charm to the experience while offering access to modern technology.
Technology Plan
The most recent version of the Technology Plan for TPL can be found as a .pdf at
http://www.thomaston.lib.me.us/about/about.html
http://www.thomaston.lib.me.us/about/about.html
Friday, April 9, 2010
Information Seeking
Answers sought from the head librarian (and sent to him ahead of time for his consideration) included the following categories.
- Types of systems used
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Visit at TPL is a "Go"
I was able to contact Brian via e-mail last week to schedule a visit with him on Tuesday, April 6th. He was supplied with the list of questions to get a sense of what topics we'd be discussing. The report and photos will be coming in a few days.
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