[Web4lib] Re: Msg14 Replacement Policy and/or Guidelines

[Dale Irving]

Hi Lin,
I work at a fairly small PL (with typical budget issues) and our
replacement policy and replacement guidelines tend to be ... very
different things.  Our policy calls for the replacement of staff and
public PCs every three years, however, we haven't attained that level in
the 8 years I've worked here, and I doubt if we will anytime soon.  From a
practical viewpoint I try and replace PCs when they no longer do the job I
need done in a reasonable amount of time with reasonable downtime.  Like
you we have older P4s in service, mostly with 512MB RAM at this point, and
I've replaced a few hard drives and power supplies to keep them running. 
I've retired older machines limited to 256MB as well as some without front
USB ports as soon as I could (although I kept a few as PACs for a while).
 We've had good luck with the Microns our town buys, and I blow them out
twice a year and do full-reloads on average every 1 - 1 1/2 years (less
often since I started using deepfreeze).

Dale

Dale Irving
Information Systems Librarian
Middleborough Public Library
Middleboro, MA
dirving at sailsinc.org


> 
> Message: 14
> Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2007 11:56:55 -0500
> From: "Lin Light" <holight at llcoop.org>
> Subject: [Web4lib] replacement question.
> To: <web4lib at webjunction.org>
> Message-ID: <000901c75c22$9e34eaa0$631f10ac at herrickdl.local>
> Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"
> 
> What policy or guideline do you all have in place to determine when is
> it
> time to replace machines?
> Yes, I know, if you can't turn it on or you have to provide your own
> markers
> to paint you screen, it is time to replace it.
> But how many have a performance benchmark or years of service cycle of
> replacement? We have some machines that are close to 8 years old that
> work
> OK for just accessing the web card catalog.  They are GOING this
> summer. But
> I have some that are 5 years old (1.8ghz, P4, that just need a memory
> boost
> ) that seem to be performing well in the Children's Department.
> I just don't want to say, yap, 5 years old out you go.
> 
> Lin
>  
> 
> Lin Light
> Head of Technical & Automated Services
> Herrick District Library
> Holland, Michigan
> 616.355.3727 Voice
> 616.355.1426 Fax
> llight at herrickdl.org
> 
> 
> 
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> End of Web4lib Digest, Vol 24, Issue 1
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