PLA Blog

Information on TechSoup.org’s
MaintainIT Project.
(www.maintainitproject.org )

What’s your story? Librarians want to know!

The MaintainIT Project is gathering practical solutions for how libraries maintain their public computers.

Techniques and tips will be shared in free guides tailored to specific types of libraries and distributed in print and online.

The MaintainIT Project is a part of TechSoup (www.techsoup.org), a nonprofit serving fellow nonprofits and public libraries with technology information, resources, and product donations. The MaintainIT Project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Visit www.maintainitproject.org for more information.

Tell us your story!
* How do you maintain your library’s public computers?

* Do you plan for technology and software upgrades?

* Do you enlist the help of volunteers?

* Do you use disk protection software?

We’d love to hear from you. Share your challenges, your solutions, and your triumphs.
If you’re a library staff person or someone who supports public computers in libraries, please get in touch.

Stay tuned for more information

Visit www.maintainitproject.org for more information as the project progresses, such as:
• Successful strategies from libraries
• Where you can find us at library conferences
• When and how you can obtain free guides for your library

Play a part in keeping public computers available in libraries. Share your stories and tell others about this exciting project!

Here’s a peek at some stories we’re hearing…

Share Your Tech Tips in a Blog — Is your library lucky enough to employ a tech whiz? If so, encourage him or her to share tips and thoughts with other libraries using a blog.

Rodney Greensage, an IT consultant who works with 45 libraries in the Alamo Area Library System in southern Texas, tackles a number of topics in his blog, the AALS Techie Corner. For example, upon the release of Internet Explorer 7, Greensage tested it and shared his impressions in his blog, helping libraries make an informed decision on using this new browser.

Go Local — At the Hennessey Public Library in Oklahoma, Mary Haney has computers custom built by a nearby vendor for no more than a mass market computer would cost. The savings comes from the vendor installing all of the software and providing any necessary technical support. In five years, she’s reported one hardware problem,
and in that case, the vendor replaced the bad part within one day!

There are different ways to “Tell Your Story”

* You can post your story on www.maintainitproject.org

* E-mail us at

* Call us at 1-800-659-3579 ext. 390

Do you know another library that is successfully maintaining their public computers?
Please tell us about them!

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 14th, 2007 at 1:40 pm and is filed under PLA Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.