<div dir="ltr"><div>Hi Joe,</div><div><br></div><div>Just information sharing, not a recommendation - I have no experience with this product. <br></div><div><br></div><div>Kajeet offers a managed hotspot service called Smartspot, including multiple carriers. Hotspots are enrolled in their Sentinel management tool, including a web portal that promises libraries "real time device and data management." Most of their language is designed around selling to schools for at-home learning, but they also sell to libraries.<br></div><div><a href="https://www.kajeet.net/solutions/distance-learning/smartspots/">https://www.kajeet.net/solutions/distance-learning/smartspots/</a></div><div><br></div><div>
I'd be interested to hear if any libraries have used this vendor, and what you found!
</div><div><br></div><div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div>Jessica D. Dooley (she/her)<br></div><div>Technology Project Manager<br></div><div>Ohio Public Library Information Network<br></div><div><a href="mailto:jessica@oplin.ohio.gov" target="_blank">jessica@oplin.ohio.gov</a></div><div>614-728-5254<br></div></div></div></div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, Aug 25, 2022 at 2:02 PM Joe Dusenbery via OPLINTECH <<a href="mailto:oplintech@lists.oplin.org">oplintech@lists.oplin.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">
<div></div><div>Howdy OPLIN Tech,</div><div><br></div><div>I am reaching out to hear how other libraries are managing mobile hotspots to see if anyone has any tips or tricks that will improve our process. <br></div><div><br></div><div>Unfortunately, hotspots tend to be kept long past their due dates so we created a procedure designed around encouraging the return of these overdue hotspots but the procedure is somewhat tedious and time consuming. Our ILS automatically sends overdue notifications but those get ignored. After several weeks of being overdue, we turn off the service to encourage their return. This process is where the tedium comes into play. The majority of our hotspots have TMobile service through Mobile Citizen who provide them to us at a very reasonable monthly rate. The trade-off for saving money on the service is that we do not have any way to stop the service ourselves. Instead we must contact Mobile Citizen who then contacts TMobile to temporarily stop the service. This process can take a day or more. We then manually put notes on the ILS item records so that if/when it is returned, Circulation staff know the service has been stopped. Circ will then let us know that the service needs to be restored. We again must contact Mobile Citizen and there can be even more lag time before we receive confirmation that the service has been restored and the hotspot can go back into circulation. <br></div><div><br></div><div>The holds queue for the hotspots is always pretty lengthy so we want to get them back and out to the next patron as quickly as possible. With our current process, we wait until the hotspots reach "long overdue" status before stopping the service which does not happen until they are 30 days overdue. I'm working with my ILS vendor to get a new report created that will show all overdue hotspots and how long they have been overdue. That way we can stop service much sooner at the 7ish days overdue point instead of 30 days. We think/hope this will have a positive impact. <br></div><div><br></div><div>For those libraries that have hotspots, how do you manage them? Do you also stop service to encourage their return? What hotspot service provider(s) do you use?
How do you keep everything organized?
Any insight/advice is appreciated. <br></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="font-size:small"><br></div><div style="font-size:small">Thanks,</div><div style="font-size:small">Joe</div></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div style="font-size:12.8px">Joseph R. Dusenbery, MISST</div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">IT Director</span></div><div style="font-size:12.8px">Muskingum County Library System</div><div style="font-size:12.8px">220 N 5th Street</div><div style="font-size:12.8px">Zanesville OH 43701</div><div style="font-size:12.8px">740.453.0391, ext. 152</div></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><a href="http://muskingumlibrary.org" target="_blank">muskingumlibrary.org</a></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><a href="http://muskingumlibrary.org/" style="color:rgb(17,85,204);font-size:12.8px" target="_blank"><img src="http://muskingumlibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/MuskingumCountyLibrary-Logo-email-v2.jpg"></a><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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