In-house Developed Library Solutions Presented by Anthony Martocello Network & Systems Specialist II Northport – East Northport Public Library

In-House Solutions vs. Off-the-Shelf Solutions In-House Off-the-Shelf Solution can be customized to meet the library’s requirements. Must be written and tested before deployment Support limited to in-house creator Can evolve to meet the library’s changing need Cost – staff time Make do with what solutions are available (If any) Solution can be deployed right after it is purchased Vendor support Future enhancements are decided by the company Cost – purchase price

Two Solutions Developed at the Northport – East Northport Public Library Patron Access Control System Provides an interface patrons can use to start programs on the library’s public computers. Wireless Public Internet Access Provides access to the wireless Internet offered by the library to patrons that meet a set of criteria.

Patron Access Control System

Patron Access Control System Problem The current solution is unstable and is incompatible with some programs CD-ROMs for public computers are getting damaged Some programs required different screen resolutions then others on the same station

Patron Access Control System Requirements Provide patrons with an easy to use interface for launching programs on public computers Mounts and unmounts CD image files for programs as required Keeps track of programs that are in-use and prevents usage from exceeding licenses limits Changes screen resolution as required Does not interfere with Group Policy security

Project History The project began 3 years ago and is periodically refined and developed. Originally written in the Perl programming language and later rewritten in PHP using a MySQL database. Since its inception there have been 5 major revisions, each refining the program and adding new features.

Sample Workstation Main Menu Categories Descriptions

Sample Category Menu Category Programs Other Menus Descriptions

When the patron chooses a program: Checks to see if a license is available (the number of licenses must be greater than the number of computers currently using the program) Changes the screen resolution to accommodate the program, if needed Mounts an image of the program’s CD into a virtual drive on the computer, if needed Runs the program

System Administration Centralized administration of all aspects of the interface Create, edit, and delete menus, programs, and URLs from a GUI interface

Display Schemes The examples above is the same menu with different schemes applied to it. All fonts and colors are specified in the schemes

Other Added Features: In addition to programs, the system can now also handle URLs, with or without proxy hosts. Access to menus can be limited with either a password or by patron barcode and pin. Staff can generate program and URL usage statistics, broken down by date ranges, buildings, and stations.

Programs and Technology Used: PHP – programming language MySQL – Open source database product IIS – Microsoft Internet Information Services Daemon-tools – virtual CD drive MultiRes – used to change screen resolutions Alcohol 120% – used to create images file of the original program CDs Public Web Browser – developed by TeamSoftware Solutions, it is used to open the URLs with the necessary proxy host settings

Wireless Patron Internet Access

Wireless Patron Internet Access Problem: Provide wireless Internet access to our patrons Only adults and minors who’s parents have granted them full Internet access should have access to this service Patrons should be able to use this service without assistance from the library staff Patrons must agree to our Internet Access Policy before using this service

Preventing minors without permission from using this service All age and permission distinctions must be automated The p-type field in our patron records are broken into 3 levels for each building. Level 1 – Juvenile collection Level 2 – Juvenile with permission to borrow items from the adult collection Level 3 – Adults and Juveniles with full Internet permissions Using the patron’s record, the computer can distinguish patrons who meet this criteria and those who do not.

Wireless Patron Internet Access Requirements: Provide wireless Internet access to our patrons Limit access to this service to those patrons who meet a set criteria based on their patron record Requires no staff involvement for patrons to setup their laptops to use this service Patrons must agree to our Internet Access Policy in order to use this service

Project History After an exhaustive search for an off-the-shelf solution, we found an open-source solution, NetReg, which could be modified to access Innovative. To make NetReg compatible with Innovative, much of the original program had to be adjusted or completely rewritten The library hired a Linux consultant to help us setup the modified version of NetReg on a computer running Fedora Core 2 Linux and secure the system

How the System Works A patron brings their laptop to the library and connects to our wireless network If they have not registered their laptop or their registration has expired, any web page they try to visit will automatically be redirected to our registration page.

Wireless Internet Access Registration

Patron Record Criteria The barcode and pin must match The patron’s p-type must be either Level 3 or staff p-type Patron’s account must be current There must be less then $5.00 in fines on their card There can be no other blocks on the patron’s card

The Patron Fails to Meet All the Criteria

The Patron Meets All the Criteria

Restart After Registration After the patron successfully completed the registration process, the patron is asked to restart their laptop One their laptop has restarted they can begin using the Internet The MAC address of their laptop will remain registered for a period of 3 months, after which they must re-register their laptop

Programs and Technology Used: NetReg – developed at Southwestern University, NetReg is an automated system that requires an unknown clients to register their hardware before gaining full network access. Perl – programming language NetReg is written in Apache –HTTP Server is an effort to develop and maintain an open-source HTTP server for modern operating systems Fedora Core 2 – The goal of The Fedora Project is to work with the Linux community to build a complete, general purpose operating system exclusively from free software.

Future Development Patron Access Control System Move away from a web-based interface to a programming language such as C# Implementation on staff computers Wireless Patron Internet Access Integrate the registration process with the firewall to make the system more secure Add the ability for library staff to provide passes to guests of the library which would allow them to use this service