Ever wonder what other libraries are/have been doing with technology in their libraries? Librarians "wear so many hats" and time is very precious. But allow me to point you to a "menu" of what I hope will be a very valuable resource. It's called the MaintainIT Project. Quoting from their website "The MaintainIT Project is a three-year project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. We are working with public libraries to identify best practices of technical support for public computers. The Project works with libraries throughout the U.S. and Canada...MaintainIT is a project of TechSoup, (www.techsoup.org) a nonprofit with extensive experience helping other nonprofits use technology effectively."
Rodney, why should I take time from my busy day to look at this? Well they have interviewed and sought out from librarians all across the nation about library technology ideas, plans, implementations, and resources that deal directly with where you live everyday while at work. They use key words like "cookbooks" and "recipes" as their theme for these insights.
As of this writing they have 2 cookbooks. The first cookbook, "A Cookbook For Rural And Small Libraries", covers topics such as how to plan a technology plan, discussions about various spyware and anti-virus tools, how to utilize volunteers in your library, and many others.
The second cookbook entitled "Recipes for a 5-Star Library"; examples of topics such as starting a wireless network in your library. Have you thought how much help should your library staff give to patrons with regards to their laptops? Well there is a section that gives some insights on this subject. As well as other valuable topics .
Besides the cookbooks, they offer library spotlight articles on their website. Personally I would like to suggest calling them "appetizers" (hint hint) that you can download articles about. They also have a newsletter that you can sign up for. And much more.
It is nice to have quick library technology resources for libraries FROM libraries and MaintainIT is a great resource to find them. I hope you take some time to go through some of these recipes.
Bon Appetit/Buen Provecho everyone!
Rodney
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