Director of technology for the Shenendehowa Public Library in Clifton Park, New York.
kgs@bluehighways.com
Column for March 2000
The flashy wireless gizmos touted in the press, such as wireless laptops and Web-enabled cell phones, may have obscured the fact that there are also some unglamorously practical applications for wireless Internet connectivity. Beyond the toys for gearheads, wireless technology in libraries has the potential to improve services we now offer and establish or improve basic Internet access.
Wireless isn’t flawless. The cost for installing a wireless network is still usually higher than traditional “lug and plug” LANs. Service, once implemented, still feels experimental to many, particularly for mobile wireless users: sometimes it’s slow, sometimes it’s shaky, and sometimes it just plain won’t work.
Still, I’m looking at the area in our library I call the Analog Wasteland—a stretch of territory almost impossible to wire without ugly and expensive modifications—and I’m thinking wireless. Maybe not next month, but I’m already sorry I didn’t put a line item in our e-rate paperwork for our next budget year (yes, wireless services are potentially eligible for e-rate discounts). Even if we had the money to drag more wire through our building, I’d rather invest our precious dollars in a more flexible technology.
Wireless isn’t an all-or-nothing proposition; some libraries are using wireless services to expand traditional networks. The Anderson (Ind.) Public Library has a WaveLAN wireless network. Automation Systems Manager Nathan Schwartz told me, “Three notebook computers are located in areas that did not have Ethernet wire. This established PAC terminals that offer our library catalog and full Internet . . . . The system has been a great success.”
As wireless becomes more affordable to install, libraries are giving it a closer look for older buildings or those at expensive distances from ISPs. Steve Thomas, director of the Warren (Pa.) Library Association, is pleased with his library’s wireless network. “The upfront costs for wireless are higher than wired,” he noted, “but the ongoing costs will be less because we can configure the building any way we want and not have to worry about recabling.” Allaying one of my own concerns, Thomas added that in his library, “the signals go through walls, around corners, through floors, and even go right through an elevator with concrete walls.”
Beyond the freedom of being unleashed from leased lines and wires, wireless offers some potentially powerful long-term savings—often in terms of telephone company fees. Thomas noted that “for our connection to our ISP, we are also using wireless and bypassing the phone company altogether.” Director Jennifer Pratt told me that the Haywood County Public Library in Waynesville, North Carolina—located in a rural, mountainous region—is looking at wireless technology for its automation consortium, consisting of various county agencies (the hospital, county government, community college, library, and schools): “I’m hoping it will work because . . . I like the idea of not being dependent on the phone company for my technology decisions.”
Wireless networking can take some creative and expensive up-front purchases, including devices used to transmit or boost signals across wide areas. Rob Chandler, network person at Thunder Bay (Ont.) Public Library, said that although “the WavLAN equipment [used to wire this library] cost approximately $10,000 per link to purchase,” the payback time was only two years, given that they had been paying $5,000 per link for 256k ISDN lines. And, he added, “We own the equipment and the bandwidth is much better.” The buildings involved are some six miles apart.
J. Sara Paulk, head librarian at Tifton-Tift County Public Library in rural Georgia, is applying wireless to a very astute use of this technology—outreach services. “I am working on providing a series of programs in our community using a cellular modem, laptop, and cell phone to dial back into our Internet,” she said, adding, “That way, we will not be tied to a landline phone line.” In the past, offsite programs that require Internet or LAN access have forced library instructors to venture into strange settings with a passel of equipment and wiring, praying that the connections, if available, worked—and all too often, they didn’t.
I also suspect that the need for connectivity has put a severe damper on what we even think of offering in terms of technology-based outreach services. Years ago, working in Queens, New York, I fantasized about setting up a card table in the subway with a few standard reference books and selling answers for 25 cents, much as musicians earn pocket change on weekend afternoons. With a handheld, we could all be wireless subway cybrarians!
In the September 1998 American Libraries I wrote about cybermobiles—online bookmobiles—and wireless librarianship continues to burgeon on the road. Bob Purrenhage of the Chester County Library in Exton, Pennsylvania, wrote that his library’s bookmobile “has been using CDPD [Cellular Digital Protocol Data] wireless to connect to our main library computer since May 1998. We have two PCs onboard, each with its radio modem and rooftop antenna.”
The best basic document about wireless technologies in libraries is a Tech Note from the Public Library Association written by the inexhaustible GraceAnne DeCandido. Her wireless article includes testimonials, a jump-start guide, links to vendors, and a great bibliography. Go forth and unplug!