by Karen Coyle, <kcoyle@kcoyle.net>
Column: Managing Technology
PREPRINT: Published in the Journal of Academic Librarianship, v. 33, n. 6, November, 2007, pp. 602-603. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2007.09.005
Libraries have done an excellent job of creating a rich, on-line information environment. The library Web site is a central point for access to the library catalog, information about the library and its services, as well as access to the many electronic resources licensed by the library, including full text. Users can work at their computers, which is where they study and write, do research, add citations to articles and papers, and explore vast quantities of information, both in the library and on the public web. The user's personal workspace is a computer desktop, and the user's information center, the World Wide Web, is accessed through that same device. This provides for a great deal of synergy between Web resources and user activities, either reading or writing.
In comparison, the physical library may appear to be limited in scope. The greatest irony is that so often the rich on-line world created by the library is not available to the user at convenient locations within the library. It seems absurd, when you think about it, that a person standing before a shelf in the library's stacks cannot perform a search against the library catalog to double-check a call number, or to perform a new search if the materials before him have proven not to be what the user was seeking. It is also rather odd that a library user standing before a run of bound periodicals cannot perform a keyword search in a licensed indexed without going away from the shelf location to find a networked workstation or a free desk with Ethernet access. In other words, we have not provided a useful integration between the on-line and on-shelf resources.
In fact, we may not yet have the technology to create a full integration of the user's workspace (or virtual desktop), the electronic resources of the library, the public Web, and the physical library. We can, however, begin experimenting with what exists today. There are two trends that will help us create this integration. One is the evolution toward ubiquitous network access. The other is the trend toward hand-held network and computing devices.
Network access today is not ubiquitous but a variety of wireless technologies are moving us in that direction. Computers connect wirelessly using a technology standard that has the rather unfriendly "name" of 802.11. This is an IEEE standard for local area networks. The term "local" primarily refers to the fact that the range of the 802.11 technology is limited to short distances, ranging from about 30-40 yards indoors (where there are some barriers like furniture and walls) to closer to 100 yards in a barrier-free outdoor environment.[1] The 802.11 standard is quickly evolving to produce a faster and more reliable connection. Different versions of the software are identified by a letter added to the number: "b" is by now only found in older equipment; "g" is what is currently available for home and business use; "n" was released for testing in mid-2007.
While computers use the 802.11 standard that is often known as "WiFi," hand-held devices like "smart phones" can connect to the Internet over the wireless telephone connection. Surfing the Internet on a standard cell phone is an exercise in extreme squinting due to the size of the screen, but the increase in screen size that one gets in devices designed for network access, such as a Blackberry, Treo, or iPhone, is enough to make a real difference. The newer of these devices manage to reduce a web page to the small screen size with little loss of functionality.
There are two main challenges to providing wireless access within the library: coverage and security. Coverage issues arise from the very nature of WiFi: the wireless signal consists of radio waves. Although they have a theoretical range and speed based on the standard protocol, much depends on the landscape within which the technology is deployed. Radio signals can be impeded by physical barriers, like walls and objects within the space. Metal objects, such as library shelves, are notorious for blocking the wireless signals. Structural elements like elevators can also interfere, as can other technologies that emit wave forms (from motors to microwave ovens to cordless phones). Vendors of wireless equipment provide advice on placement of wireless equipment and formulas for determining how many transmitters will be required. [2] One good starting point is Webjunction, a web site for the exchange of technical information for libraries. Webjunction's step-by-step building survey page is a good overview of the information you will need to gather before making actual plans for a wireless network.[3]Providing coverage in open areas like foyers and study areas is easier and less expensive than providing coverage throughout the library. For today's student, whose primary network access is a seven to ten pound laptop, bringing access to study carrels and seating areas may be sufficient. Remember, however, that the student of tomorrow may be accessing the Internet from a small, hand-held device that doesn't have to be set on a table to be usable.
Wireless network security has some of the same elements as security over wired connections, but it also adds some new wrinkles. The question to ask is: what are the relevant threats in my environment? In certain cases, and definitely where wireless is used for business applications, you have to be concerned about unauthorized "listening" on the network. For this reason, wireless solutions allow for the encryption of the wireless communication. Or your institution may not wish to allow anonymous use of the network. This is often a concern that arises in academic environments where open networks are seen as an invitation to use them to hack into local or remote systems. System sign-ons can prevent outsiders from logging on to the wireless network, but we know that sharing of identities in a college setting is not unheard of. Within the library wireless system it might be possible to disable file sharing between computers, making it harder for an intruder to cause damage to other users of the system. In addition, the library wireless system can be separated from the main campus system with a firewall whose settings are designed to protect members on each side of that wall. Other security solutions, such as registering the internal "MAC" addresses of computers [4] before they can access the system, are probably prohibitive given the number of potential users and the flux of that population. If you are fortunate, your campus information technology department already has standards and procedures in place for the implementation of wireless networks.
The use of wireless communication that relies on telephone technology does not require the installation of equipment on the part of the library, but there could be service enhancements that the library could consider that would improve the user experience through hand-held devices. Although some devices do a decent job of shrinking web pages to fit into the screen size, others do better with a specially designed page.[5] There is little the library can do to create access within its premises, but where access is available you may want to encourage users to combine their on-line and on-shelf information seeking activity in creative ways.
The purpose of encouraging users to connect to the Internet in the library should not be simply to allow them to replicate the experience of working at home while sitting in a lounge area of the library. Instead, users should be led to take advantage of the fact that they can combine the search capabilities of the networked resources provided by the library with the wealth of materials that are on the shelves. Talk up mobile access on your web site. Give users hints on how they can use on-line search to dig deeper into the items on the shelves in front of them; how they can use the library catalog follow up citations "in real time" while working in the library's stacks.
There are many projects today whose goal is to digitize all (or at least most) of the materials that now exist as print on paper. An unstated assumption of these projects is that there are two separate and incompatible worlds of information, the on-line and the off-line, and that the only solution is to create a single on-line environment. This type of thinking ignores the portability of on-line access and the possibilities that exist to combine the on-line and on-shelf access into a single information resource. Why not work for a solution that gives us the best of both worlds?
References1. Although any individual connection has these distance limits, larger areas of access can be created by repeating the network access at key intervals. Much like the cellular phone system, users can roam without being aware of well-engineered boundaries.
2. For an example, see these pages from Intel: http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/CS-008165.htm (accessed August 17, 2007)
3. http://www.webjunction.org/do/DisplayContent?id=11030 (accessed August 17, 2007)
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_address (accessed August 17, 2007)
5. Ball State University has created web pages specifically for mobile access. http://www.bsu.edu/libraries/mobile/ (accessed August 17, 2007)
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