[WEB4LIB] Technology at "Millennium Library" (Cerritos, CA)

[Dan Lester]

Talk about a nice puff piece for the HP folks that put time and money
into it.  Nothing against puff pieces, but this doesn't have a whole
lot that many of the rest of us don't.   (Oh, btw, the URL below is to
page two of the article, so to see it all, go to the bottom and hit
the back link to read the beginning.

Just a few brief comments, in order:

1. I hope, for the sake of the fish and the librarians, that it isn't
the librarians tending the salt water tank.
2. So the network jacks are unobtrusive.  How obtrusive can an RJ45
jack be? And naturally the wireless is unobtrusive.
3. They integrate "broadband, IP, digital subscriber line, and so
forth"?  What does that mean?  Of course broadband (assume they have a
T-1 or greater) and DSL handle IP.  But if you have "broadband" of
whatever sort, why the DSL?  That whole area seems confusing, or
confusingly written.
4. Somehow I don't think HPs guys worked with all 150 subcontractors,
since there probably isn't any internet connectivity in the plumbing,
the cabinetry, the window glazing, and so forth.  (Or, maybe there is,
and they just don't want us to know about it)
5. Other than the librarians with PDAs and headsets, I don't see much
that they have that my library doesn't have.  Oh yeah, my fishtank is
on my desk, but doesn't hold 15,000 gallons....just one Betta)
6. They say "The BBSM software tracks patrons' Internet access and
library services use".  I hope that doesn't really mean as much
tracking as it sounds like.  I don't have anything to hide, but I also
don't see any point in tracking everyone's internet use.

Happy Friday, y'all,

dan


Friday, September 6, 2002, 8:41:25 AM, you wrote:

g> "A Futuristic Library" 
g> Source: eWeek 

g> A look at the "Millennium Library", the new public library in Cerritos, 
g> California. The building was dedicated on March 16, 2002. 

>>From the article, "Imagine a library where you can walk in with your laptop, plug 
g> in to an unobtrusive network jack, and access both the library's resources and 
g> the Internet through a common portal. If the network doesn't yield what you're 
g> looking for, a librarian wearing a headset and carrying a personal digital 
g> assistant can find a particular book or get the answer in seconds." 

g> Full-Text of article at:
g> http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,518802,00.asp



g> cheers,
g> gary




-- 
Dan Lester, Data Wrangler  dan at RiverOfData.com 208-283-7711
3577 East Pecan, Boise, Idaho  83716-7115 USA
www.riverofdata.com  www.gailndan.com  Stop Global Whining!