Limiting browsers to sites -Reply -Reply

[KAREN SCHNEIDER]

>>> Judi Behr <judibehr at infinet.com> 12/29/97 11:30am >>>
-
With the exception of most OPACs, all the software libraries are
using to 
access the Internet and other electronic resources is client-based
software. 
And it is common industry practice to use a price structure that
reflects 
the number of workstations the software is loaded on.

-------------------------------
Though some client software may be unavoidable in some
situations, acquiring more of it is not usually a goal, due to the
maintenance overhead each program incurs.   (That's why you
see librarians pausing to consider thin clients--I almost wrote think
clients--and network PCs.)  Anything you have to install on each
and every workstation  is usually much more labor-intensive--you
have to run from machine to machine to configure and fix stuff. 
This (hardly a new point) was observed many times over by
people I interviewed who were using some type of filter on their
library workstation(s).  A number of other products for managing
and/or monitoring Internet content are server-based (not that I
am suggesting that they don't often have problems in *other*
areas).  

Regarding common industry practice, in pricing databases for
libraries for almost five years, I have found that though the
number of workstations is certainly a factor, number of users and
number of sites are just two more factors that come into play.  As
for most filtering software, the proxy-based software  is not based
per workstation, but at most per *group* of workstations. 
Overall, I'm simply more accustomed, whilst dealing with library
vendors on big purchases, to various steps of service (up to 1000,
per X number of geographical sites, X number of simultaneous
users, public access at X workstations, etc., and of course for X
time period).  

-------------------------
Accessing web-based servers requires "additional workstation
requirements" 
such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Communicator
or any other 
browser. Are other browsers "transparent"? Are you less aware
of the 
Netscape client being "on top of your computing environment"?
The Library 
Channel web browser is simpler to use than either Netscape or
IE for the 
majority of public library users. 

--------------------------------------
Well, we don't actually know if Library Channel is simpler to use;
this is a vendor claim (and, grammatically, is an open comparative,
not that my quick notes on this list are hallowed contributions to
the digital Web4Lib opus).  I won't dispute it, because I can't;
there is no evidence that Library Channel degrades or improves
information retrieval.  As I've said before, there is a crying need
for evaluation of the impact of content-management tools on
information retrieval and other user-based activities.  This isn't a
Library Channel issue... it's a library science issue. 

In evaluating Library Channel, however, all three of us who did
so for The Internet Filter Assessment Project commented on the
sense of a second piece of software "sitting on top" of the Web
browser.  Yes, while assessing the product, I  was overly aware
of  Library Channel.  Maybe this is Just Me, but I didn't like the
fonts requirement, either.  

Yeah, I had it backwards on htaccess, as I remarked last week.  
Fortunately, Unix-based solutions (erroneous or otherwise) 
aren't necessary, as the other responses indicated.  

Regarding Library Channel being "easier to administer than a
web page" and "a simple tool"--well, no, I didn't find that to be
true, either, but that's one of those subjective experiences only
the buyer can decide.  You have to learn to administer Library
Channel, and if you're maintaining a website, do you want to
additional overhead of doing so?  Again, we have the ability to try
it and see for ourselves, which is always a plus for any product.

However, regarding my own claims, ;-)  the tips on cheap ways to
restrict a workstation to a particular host--which was the first
poster's request--will get colocated, I hope this week, on my site,
which will be new, improved, simpler, and easier! 

Will we see a booth for Library Channel at Midwinter, so we can
examine this product and talk to vendors?  And will Library
Channel be next to the "Elvis booth" again?  (For readers not in
on this, at ALA Annual, there was an Elvis impersonator at the
Checkpoint booth, and Library Channel was right across from
"the King."  After five days of listening to this guy I'm surprised
we didn't see violence on the exhibit floors... Library Channel
deserves some kind of award for that!)

K. Schneider
opinions mine alone
kgs at bluehighways.com