IT support for Public Libraries

[Marty Williams]

We are a large public library with a total of 6 libraries in our council
area. We have in the past been innovative in our supply of access to the
Internet and other resources, and are currently implementing a Marketing
Plan which has been 12 months in the making.

The issue is, we are accessing most of our programs, CDROM's and
Internet via our council's network and are as such heavily dependent on
council Information Technology Staff for our support. The problems
arising from this are huge and growing rapidly, ranging from no access
to C: directory on public PCs (can't remove wallpaper etc.) to
non-delivery of hardware etc. etc.

I recently attended a seminar on 'Libraries Online' by Willem Scholten,
who suggested that such a dependence on a larger network could indeed be
a recipe for disaster.

The point is - I am putting together a 2 year IT Plan for the library
and am recommending that we become as autonomous as possible in all
aspects of IT delivery, with the addition of relevant staff to our
numbers. Has anyone else gone through a similar transition? with or
without success? Or are there any other ideas, models for dealing with
IT support for libraries that recognises the changing roles of libraries
and the priorities for information delivery. It seems that IT personnel
are both innately unwilling to share skills unable to perceive libraries
as more than book wharehouses.

Any ideas??

Marty