The primary goal of Libraries Online! is to provide broad access to information technology and resources for those people most likely to lack such opportunities.

Therefore, the focus at Libraries Online! is on building public computing access points mainly, but not exclusively, in Public Libraries, for use by the general public. The focus is not on back-office operational technology, such as accounting and administrative word processing. This objective has driven the model development of the Public Access Computing stations for Libraries Online!

Ultimately, community members will benefit and be enlightened by this exposure to technology information resources.

 

To serve the larger Public Libraries or branches and the smaller to medium sized Public Libraries, two standard models have been developed, which are commonly refered to as the Libraries Online! Lab Model and the Libraries Online! Standalone Model.

Each model is designed to ensure maximum availability and flexibility for the patron as well as the staff, while trying to minimize the downtime of systems, due to inadvertant re-configuration of a workstation by a user. The two models have been tested in a variety of locations and continue to be tested and fine tuned as new applications or technology become available.

In general, both models are configured to provide access to the following three groups of applications and resources: (1) Internet Resources; (2) Multimedia Reference and Learning tools; (3) Office Applications such as word processing. In certain instances, where the machines are also used heavily by high school or college students, additional tools such as Visual Basic may be available.

 

A typical Libraries Online! site, has three categories of software installed for the general public: Office Applications; Reference Titles; and Childrens Learning titles.

These applications either are all accessible by a user account or a limited set is made available to a particular user account. For example, one could have a user account called "Internet" which would have access to: Internet Explorer, FrontPage97 and Publisher97, so that the user is able to create new webpages. A Childrens account however may have access to: Works95, the Magic Schoolbus series and Explorapedia.

This access is controlled through profile, policies and local and global groups.

 

Libraries Online! Software Suite