Wireless

[David Johnson]

MIT DOES  already have wireless access in the main reading room of one of 
our five major divisional libraries, the Sloan School of Management's Dewey 
Library.   We expect to have wireless access in all five major libraries by 
the fall of 2001.     The Institute as a whole is installing it in many 
areas other than libraries, (maybe even eating places).  This means that 
the cost is negligible to the libraries.

We have nothing to report on the downside so far, although our installation 
is less than six months operational.

NOW here is my two cents worth.   We have wireless in our large storage 
building for infrequently needed items, (some 400,000 "retrospective 
collection" items in a cavernous warehouse building of five floors). The 
building is located approximately three blocks from the main campus.  We 
installed one or two Apple Airports  on each floor and get very good 
results.   This is a time saver for staff who can now be  on-line while 
working the shelves in these stacks.  I installed the orinoco wireless 
cards on PC type Dell laptops and see almost universal coverage throughout 
the metal shelved, steel reinforced building of approximately 25, 000 sq. 
ft. per each of five floors.   The time saver factor, being able to get 
email requests while on the stack floors and respond before returning the 
book truck to the delivery dock will more than pay for the cost in the 
first year.   We can also do what we could NOT do with cell phones, namely 
with the Airport, literally "talk" to each other with instant messaging 
from one PC laptop to any other computer  on the domain.  We could 
literally have a circulation or reference staff request a book from storage 
and get it back to the right library within an hour if we wanted to arrange 
services that way.

For a remote storage facility with few network jacks, and few power 
outlets, a battery laptop and wireless is almost ideal.

Although the focus of most wireless installations is largely upon patron 
access to services, be sure to consider how this may make your staff have 
an easier time of it in the stacks or anywhere.   Installation of the 
wireless card was a 10 minute job, and the cards work all over 
campus,  making it easy to transfer staff and have them take their computer 
WITH THEM, rather than re-configuring two desktops with each staf change, 
backing up files, etc, etc.  If we put wireless services in processing and 
cataloging and acquisitions office areas, making staff transfers and 
promotions would be easier to manage from a computer management 
perspective, because moving bodies and computers around becomes almost a 
"do it yourself" activity, using wireless cards and DHCP  ("leased" IP 
address assignments).

I would be happy to hear any comments to the NEGATIVE before we at MIT move 
to my wireless "fantasy", for most staff computers, maybe in a year or so.


David Johnson
Library Technology Consultant
MIT Libraries.