[WEB4LIB] Re: Proxy servers

[Sheryl Dwinell]

I guess it boils down to what your IS department considers acceptable
levels of access. I'd love for everyone on my campus to have a PPP account
provided by the university so they can access the many online resources to
which our library subscribes. The best our ITS department offers is 14.4
dial-up access to the university's VAX where users are reduced to using a
two year old version of Lynx. I've tried in vain to get the systems folk to
upgrade the version of Lynx we have installed, but apparently it can't be
done...at least this is what I'm told. If someone wants to use a graphical
web browser they have to get an account with a local ISP. Fortunately,
there is a provider in town who gives about a 15% discount to Marquette
users. I heard that the head of our ITS dept. stated that he didn't want
his dept. to "become an ISP", hence no PPP accounts available for the
masses. They have the technology, but just don't want to do it for reasons
I can't even begin to speculate on. So, I think for many universities &
colleges it's a complicated issue and has to do with technical
capabilities, available resources, & institutional attitudes. In too many
cases, from my own experience and from talking to other librarians, some IS
Depts. just don't grasp the importance of off-campus access issues for
library users. 

Sheryl Dwinell

At 06:06 PM 9/2/98 -0700, Richard L. Goerwitz III wrote:
>> How do we convince our computer centers and administrators of the
>> necessity for remote users to have the same ease of access as on-
>> campus users?
>
>I don't know if you intended to post this note to the list, but your
>query merits some response:  If your computer centers and administrat-
>ors don't understand the importance of access for remote users, then
>they should find other work.
>
>I work in a university setting, and we have professors on sabbatical;
>students, professors, and staff who don't live on-campus; affiliated
>(e.g., medical school faculty) in off-site clinics; graduate students
>doing fieldwork (the list goes on and on).  All of these people need
>off-site access to on-campus resources.  No competent university af-
>filiated IS department worth its salt can hang these constituencies
>out to dry.
>
>Richard Goerwitz
>Brown University
>
Sheryl Dwinell * Cataloger/DBM Librarian/Webmaster
Memorial Library * Marquette University
P.O. Box 3141 * Milwaukee, WI 53201-3141
414-288-3406 * Sheryl.Dwinell at Marquette.edu