Managing Public PCs Nicole Lowndes and the Statewide PC Management Project Advisory Committee An overview for Victoria's public libraries

Snapshot Almost 1000 PCs are available for Internet use in our public libraries, taking around one million bookings a year. This significant service is stretching library resources, not just in infrastructure, but in staff time to manage and monitor use. 1

The project  This project report gives an overview of PC management challenges and strategies  It lists alternatives to current practice, their advantages and disadvantages, and where possible, costs  Case studies illustrate five successful models  A survey of all 44 Victorian library services revealed that no single solution would work for every library 2

Current situation At the moment, almost every library uses a paper-based system to take bookings. Staff are responsible for recording bookings, enforcing conditions, policing appropriate use, resolving disputes, troubleshooting, and applying fees. Conservatively, if this took 2 minutes per booking, and staff were paid $15/hour, this strategy is costing half a million dollars a year in staff time. 3

Challenges A workable alternative has to be simple. It must allow libraries to:  meet legal obligations  enforce its conditions and fees  secure PCs against tampering  minimise staff involvement And it has to work well with the IT infrastructure already in place. 4

Strategies  For libraries with low demand, paper sign-up sheets or an Excel spreadsheet may still be the best option  Some libraries use express terminals (not booked) to relieve demand on other PCs and staff  A couple of libraries let users book themselves  Some library management systems are introducing practical bookings modules  One library service has developed its own software to record PC bookings 5

Software solutions Several companies now sell software specifically designed to help libraries manage their public access PCs. Developed in a North American context, they not only automate bookings linked to a patron database, but also offer print management, filtering and settings tailored to the particular user, cost recovery, and sophisticated time control. 6

Software solutions cont. These products can automate:  Bookings by users or staff  Statistics  Time control  Desktop control  Acceptance of conditions  Internet filtering  Print and cost management 7

Cost and availability  There are six leading products available in the U.S.  To enable Victorian libraries to compare these products, a quote was requested in $AUD for a hypothetical consortium of 18 library services with 400 PCs  It was assumed that the libraries had all their PCs networked, and each service had a local server 8

Cost and availability cont. Based on the information supplied and the availability of support in Australia, the most appropriate products for testing in the Victorian context are:  One Australian company quoted approx. $2750 per library service, plus 15% annual maintenance, to resell Pharos’ Sign Up 9

Cost and availability cont.  Another quoted approx. $9600 per library service, plus 6% annual maintenance, to resell PC Management by EnvisionWare packaged with I-tiva software  This product is more affordable for libraries already using I-tiva 10

Recommendations  That Viclink look at standardising some of the conditions for PC access  That Victorian libraries trial the software solutions and consider collaborative buying 11