[Publib] "Serious" internet users versus "entertainment"users

[Julie Bauer]

We did something similar at My Former Place of Work. 
When we bought new PCs, I kept the best of the old
ones and set it up with an old but working inkjet
printer.  It was not on the network and had no
Internet access, but it had MS Office.  We had no time
limits on that machine, and it helped take the strain
off the Internet computers.

At My Current Place of Work, all 7 of our branches
have WiFi.  We still have vast crowds clamoring for
Internet computers, but people who don't leave home
without their laptops are not among them -- again,
relieving the strain a bit.



--- "K.G. Schneider" <kgs at bluehighways.com> wrote:

> Bob Sullivan's solution-to provide computers
> dedicated to word processing
> and make the limits longer on these machines-makes a
> lot of sense. People
> who want to do word processing, such as for a
> resume, need a long siege at a
> computer-but there are probably fewer of these folks
> to begin with. The
> fought-over machines that need the shorter
> timetables are those that allow
> Web services. Segregating word-processing capability
> from Web access is
> simply a nice way to serve the public. (I bet Bob
> even has things set up so
> that if service needs demanded it he could
> reconfigure the machines very
> quickly by logging in to different profiles.) 
> 
> In the same vein, I've seen libraries offer express
> Internet terminals for
> 15 minute usage-enough time to print a boarding pass
> or check in with a
> parent. The user who needs a boarding pass is in a
> different reality than
> the teen settling down for a session of Second Life.
> 
> 
> Karen G. Schneider
> kgs at bluehighways.com 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Publib mailing list
> Publib at webjunction.org
> http://lists.webjunction.org/mailman/listinfo/publib
> 


Julie Bauer
Collection Development Librarian
Loudoun County Public Library
Leesburg, Virginia