[WEB4LIB] Docking Ports: Was Abandon Library Computer Labs

[Harrison, Roger]

Our campus' solution was to create a VLAN on certain ports on our Ethernet
switches.  They then put this VLAN behind a firewall.  Any requests for IP
addresses on this network are granted temporary IP address leases for
Internet access. We do not allow them access to the main campus network, so
they can't access our CD-ROMs.  However, the CDs are a very small portion of
our available databases.

We assume that users have an Ethernet card of some kind in their laptops.
We don't advise them on how to install one.  However, we (I) wrote a short
guide to making sure they have the correct network protocol (in our case,
TCP/IP) installed under Windows 95/98.

Roger Harrison          P.O. Box 4150
Network Analyst         Fullerton, CA 92834-4150
Cal State Fullerton     Voice: 714-278-2666
Pollak Library          Fax:   714-278-1333

mailto:rharrison at fullerton.edu
http://rharrison.fullerton.edu/

-----Original Message-----
From:	Donald Barclay [mailto:donaldb at library.tmc.edu]
Sent:	Monday, March 22, 1999 7:27 AM
To:	Multiple recipients of list
Subject:	[WEB4LIB] Docking Ports: Was Abandon Library Computer Labs

In the discussion about checking out laptops, Darryl Friesen mentioned
"'docking stations' where students could plug in their own laptops." Does
anyone have experience with docking stations in a library? Are the docking
stations just ordinary network drops? If so, what software, cards, etc.
would users have to have on their laptops to access a docking station? Does
the Library have to spend a lot of time and/or money helping users set up
their laptops so they can dock? Thanks for any  information on this one.


Donald A. Barclay
Houston Academy of Medicine-       always the beautiful answer
Texas Medical Center Library           who asks the more beautiful question
donaldb at library.tmc.edu                                   -- e. e. cummings