PointCast -Reply

[Dan Lester]

I'm amazed at the library folks who don't seem to
like PointCast.  We love it.  Our patrons love it. 
A number of librarians have it installed on their
office PCs.

We often have patrons asking about developing
news stories, such as the kid who died in the
plane crash in Cheyenne last week.  We also
have the companies set to provide quotes on
major local companies so that patrons can
check the market in general, as well as on the
companies they may work for or have local
interest in.  

Sure, there is "fluff" in it, same as in the
newspaper, on TV news, etc.  If you don't want
to check your horoscope or lottery numbers,
don't do so.  You do get to check the industries
you're interested in, which seems to me to work
fairly well, even if not strictly following SIC or
other codes.  Even if they did follow such a
structure, someone would always fuss about a
"misclassification" or missed story.  

We have pointcast running on three public
machines, including web stations for the public
and at the reference desk.  It is also the
screensaver on these machines, although with a
fifteen minute delay on saving, it rarely comes
on.  The weather map and data is also very
popular.  We've added the forecasts for a few
other major cities in the country, as well as all of
the cities in the region.

Since I have it on my own PC here at work, as
well as at home, I find it very useful.  In fact, I
just checked the closing price on the company
my wife works for, as well as the market closing
on the DowJones.  I didn't bother reading about
the latest royal divorce.  o-)

This is the best free library reference tool to
come along since the Mosaic 0.9 or so.

dan


Dan Lester, Network Information Coordinator
Boise State University Library, Boise, Idaho,
83725 USA
voice: 208-385-1235   fax:  208-385-1394
dlester at bsu.idbsu.edu     OR   
alileste at idbsu.idbsu.edu
Cyclops' Internet Toolbox:   
http://cyclops.idbsu.edu
"How can one fool make another wise?"  
Kansas, 1979.