[WEB4LIB] Re: Services to wireless patrons?

[Dan Lester]

At 01:17 PM 8/20/99 -0700, morganj at iupui.edu wrote:
>Our dentistry students all received laptops a couple years ago.  Since
>many of them use our medical library, we've wired some power and
>network outlets in the library so they can study here.

Boise State has some 78 net jacks (10baseT) in the library for the public 
to plug their laptops into.

>The campus had just
>begun to provide DHCP service at the time, so we could randomly assign an
>IP number to the portable when it was plugged in.

We do the same thing.  DHCP.

>The University security office regards these open network outlets as a
>problem, since they provide anonymous access to the Internet.

Our Computer Privacy and Security Officer (before coming here he was with a 
defense contractor with a Secret level computer security 
certification).  We don't find it a problem, as the people at our public 
workstations in the library also have anonymous access to the internet.

>Some
>public access areas on one of our other campuses have been working on a
>way to force the user to sign in with a campus ID before receiving an IP
>number, but I don't know how successfully.  If your number of IDs is
>limited to 700 you might be able to give them all fixed IP numbers.

With some 16,000 students that isn't an option for us, though at present 
the number of students with laptops and net cards is probably only three 
percent of that.

>We wrote a simple note on our web pages
>(http://www.medlib.iupui.edu/techsupport/pubip.html) to explain the
>outlets and how to  configure a portable to use them, and posted a similar
>document near the outlets.

We do the same, and have it in printed form as a handout at the reference desk.

>We've had a few other students complain about the clicking of the keys of
>the portables, and we've set up some barriers to reduce sound in areas
>that were previously open.  But otherwise there have been no problems.

We have some areas that are "quiet" areas and others that are "not so 
quiet" (though not so labelled as the former are).  The jacks are all in 
the "not so quiet" areas.

Campus IT folks have wireless to a couple of "remote facilities" a few 
miles from campus, but so far none is done on the main campus.

dan

--
Good, Fast, and Cheap: Which two of the three would you like?
Dan Lester, 3577 East Pecan, Boise, ID 83716 USA 208-383-0165
dan at 84.com   http://www.84.com/  http://www.postcard.org/