wireless

Thank you to everyone who attended today's first MaintainIT book club. We discussed "Meal Plan 1: Setting Up a Wireless Network" from Recipes for a 5-Star Library. 18 people from around the country participated in the discussion. Topics ranged from basic wireless set-up to filtering to splash pages. 

Just attended the 30-minute webinar, "Notes on setting up wireless at your library," featuring Sharon Moreland and Liz Rea from the Northeast Kansas Library System (my old stomping grounds!). I feel the same way I did after the other 30-minute webinars: "Wow! I cannot believe we covered that much in that short amount of time!" I like the quick, practical approach and think it suits the busy life of a librarian well.

So you have a Cookbook. You've used it. You have opinions about how it worked for you.

Or...

Maybe you haven't used a Cookbook yet. Maybe there's something you want to do, and you'd like to hear how others have done it.

If this describes you, or maybe you're just curious about what in the world I'm talking about, listen in...

Terrific idea from the ever-informative WIRED-MT listserv about how to advertise wi-fi services at your library:

Kudos to Louise Alcorn and Kami Griffiths for making the potentially dull topic of policies anything but dull! Today’s 30-minute webinar provided a lot of food for thought in a short amount of time. I was familiar with Louise and her work before the webinar because she literally wrote the book on wireless networking in libraries. During the webinar, however, I also discovered that she and my friend and fellow Johnson County (KS) resident Josh Neff are old pals! Josh was a webinar participant today, too, and told me that he and Louise went to summer camp together many, many years ago and recently got in touch again on Facebook – ah, it’s a wonderfully small and socially networked world!

Do you have wireless, want wireless, or feel like you could better explain the ins and outs of wireless usage to your patrons?

If you answered yes, maybe, or sorta to any of these questions, MaintainIT has a 30-minute solution for you. TODAY.

In a recent comment to our latest poll, Dave Jackson offered his thoughts on his favorite tools (or lack thereof) for learning:

If you haven't yet seen Louise Alcorn's wireless checklist, check it out now, and please... steal it! If you have a copy of the December issue of American Libraries magazine, it's reprinted on page 29.

And hip, hip, hooray that Louise's wise words can reach more people! Louise is a marvel, and we're always happy to share her thoughts, and pleased as punch that American Libraries thought so too. Nice work, Louise!

Louise Alcorn, librarian, author, and wireless expert extraordinare, recently responded to a blog comment worth talking about.

In the spirit of this spooky season, I wanted to address some Wireless Horror Stories – potential issues and problems with wireless. Remarkably, I’ve had a hard time finding stories of real horror. Especially in the last few years, during which time wireless has become more prevalent and therefore implements more smoothly. The usual response from libraries has been “the wireless project went just fine." So much for horror...