STAFF ANSWERS TO OUR PUBLIC COMMENT FORMS
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STAFF ANSWERS TO OUR PUBLIC COMMENT FORMS |
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This space is for staff responses to customer comments, questions or complaints.
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CUSTOMER: " I heard that the
library director went back to Minnesota.Who is the director now?"
RESPONSE: The City Manager is working
through the application process and the new director will be announced
soon.Currently Children's Librarian Leslie Stanton is serving as Interim
Director.
CUSTOMER: "Why is the Library switching from Microsoft-based Internet
workstations to the Linux-based "DiscoverStation" in July, 2006?
RESPONSE: Over the past two years it has become increasingly clear that we
at St. Helena Public Library cannot keep our public Internet workstations
operating without additional technical staff hours. The plethora of adware,
viruses, spyware, malware and hacking attempts on Microsoft systems have become
such a great burden that our machines have been "breaking" with regularity over
the past year. Since our budget will not allow us to hire the expensive tech
help we would need to keep these systems going, we began looking several months
ago for a vendor-managed system that will provide us equivalent or better
capabilities for our customers, but at a significantly lower cost..
We have found the solution we need in a product called DiscoverStation by UserFul, Inc. This Canadian-based vendor has designed it's DiscoverStation Internet PCs from the ground up specifically as public Internet workstations. DiscoverStation is a turnkey solution in which the vendor provides continuous upgrades, updates, patches as they are needed. The constant need by library technical staff to upgrade, update and patch Microsoft systems is not an issue with DiscoverStation. The vendor provides all the technical expertise to keep these workstations running as a part of their contract with the library. Also, because the operating system and all the applications are OpenSource software, and because this solution better utilizes computer CPUs, the cost of DiscoverStation is a fraction of the cost of Microsoft-based solutions even including all of the technical support.
DiscoverStation PCs include a suite of applications software that we think will more than fill the needs of our library customers. Included is a package called OpenOffice, a Microsoft Office file-compatible product, which will serve the needs of our customers for word processing, spreadsheets and presentation software. DiscoverStation also supports several of the most widely used Web-based email services. DiscoverStation has print management, scheduling and filtering services as a part of this package. All of the services are library configurable.
DiscoverStation is not a beta product but is in active use at over one hundred library systems throughout the United States and Canada. In conversations with several of these libraries, I was impressed by unanimity of satisfaction with this product.
Installation of our 25 DiscoverStation workstations will take one day during which access to Internet services will not be available. Installation is currently scheduled for the week of July 24th. The exact day is not yet known.
The St. Helena Library is contracting for three years with UserFul, Inc. to
provide DiscoverStation to the St. Helena Public Library.
Thank you!
Larry Hlavsa, Director
CUSTOMER: "[I have seen recent] violations of the recently instituted
adults-only computer use policy [in the adult area of the library].
Enforcement...tends to be more lax on nights and weekends."
RESPONSE: Our librarians are unable to monitor on a continuous basis the use
of these machines. If you observe someone violating our policy in this regard,
please inform a librarian at the Information Desk and appropriate action will be
taken.
Evenings and weekends we have minimal staffing at the library. Again, if you
are concerned about a violation of our policy please contact a librarian.
Thank you!
Larry Hlavsa, Director
CUSTOMER COMMENT: "Why have the Internet workstations behind the Check Out desk been limited [as of Dec 15, 2005] to customers 18 and older?"
RESPONSE: Before 2005, limiting these workstations to adults had been our longstanding policy. That policy was changed in February, 2005 to allow juveniles to use the machines if Teen Room/Children's Room machines were unavailable. The hope was that juveniles would use the adult machines for the purposes for which they were intended; i.e. catalog access, homework, research, etc.
The experiment has not worked for the following reasons:
For these reasons, we have decided that our old policy worked better and at its meeting on December 14, 2005, our Library Board of Trustees agreed. Access to the adult machines will again be restricted to those 18 and older.
There continue to be several machines in the Children's Room and Teen Rooms available to those 17 and younger. We are not denying them access, but re-directing them back to the Children's Room and Teen Room. We believe this solution will be better for adults, the kids and our staff.
Thank you for your cooperation!
Larry Hlavsa, Director
CUSTOMER COMMENT: "Why are people allowed to chat and play
games on Internet workstations?"
RESPONSE: Our users are allowed one hour per day of
Internet usage. How they choose to use that time is their prerogative.
"Due to the nature of the Internet, services apart from those for which the
machines are designed may be available; e.g. chat, playing games, listening to
music but these are not library-supported or controlled. Individual machines may
have services installed such as encyclopedias, spreadsheet software,
presentation software, and so on." Adopted by the St. Helena Public Library
Board of Trustees, Feb 9, 2005.
Thank you!
Larry Hlavsa, Director
CUSTOMER COMMENT: "I don't like not being able to access all of the computer so I could use it to its full potential. It really upset[s] me."
RESPONSE: Unfortunately all libraries that provide public access microcomputers have found it necessary to "lock down" their machines to reduce the maintenance required for them. Before St. Helena Public Library locked down our computers in 2001 they were constantly being loaded with software by users that resulted in system crashes or was inappropriate & inconsistent with the purposes for which we provide the computers. These "open" machines required far too much staff time to maintain. Users also were constantly changing configuration parameters which made maintenance problematical. Our goal is to provide computers that provide Internet access as fully as possible while reducing our maintenance requirements to as close to zero as is possible. We feel these goals are being met as the machines are currently configured. We appreciate your understanding.
Thank you!
Larry Hlavsa, Director