[OPLINTECH] Circulating Laptops

[JKENZIG]

Wow $1500? Thats an incentive NOT to borrow them! Why would you not  
just get $350 12" netbooks?

Jim Kenzig
Please excuse any typos.
Sent from my iPod

On May 23, 2009, at 11:45 AM, "Mann, James H." <JMann at gcpl.lib.oh.us>  
wrote:

> Matt
> GCPL is circulating about 20 laptops.
> Some thoughts:
> 1. Buy cheap, off lease Windows laptops and don't expect more than  
> 18 months out of them before they die or a patron drops one.
> 2. Create a desktop that is like your public computers so patrons  
> (aka staff) don't get confused
> 3. Lock them down with SteadyState or Deepfreeze
> 4. Setup your login so it sees the nearest wireless first
> 5. Barcode everything....laptop, power supply, mouse
> 6. Create your loan rules, item types etc for 2 hour loan periods,  
> no renewals, no holds, suppressed from catalog whatever
>
> Our procedure the short version:
> 1. Staff logs on the laptops and make sure they connect to the  
> wireless
> 2. Staff launches the PCReservation and LPTOne clients and checks  
> that the laptop is in the queue
> 3. Patron requests laptop and staff checks it out making sure the  
> patron can checkout items and has a "laptop AUP" note in their file.  
> Our AUP basically says "you break it you buy it" and we do require  
> young adults to actually bring a parent in to sign the AUP. A long  
> time ago the discussion was to make the fine twice the cost of a  
> laptop from the bookstore so students would have no incentive for  
> checking it out and keeping it for the entire quarter.
> 4. Once the laptop is checked out staff makes a reservation in  
> PCReservation and the patron gets the laptop for a full 2 hours. The  
> laptop patron really gets bonus time but it is simpler and a good  
> battery is going to die in 2 hours anyway.
> 5. Hopefully staff checks the laptop back in or the patron goes to  
> collection very quickly with a $1500 bill
>
> Issues:
> 1. It's a fairly complex process for staff and simple things like  
> the wireless being turned off can be baffling...but the laptops  
> often hold their IP for a couple days so it often is simpler.
> 2. You're never going to get them to fully charge so assume that  
> they will need to be plugged in. There was a blog post recently  
> about a University study where students said they wanted comfortable  
> chairs, good wireless and convenient electric. We offer study tables  
> with outlet strips and hard backed chairs.
> 3. Assume you will need mice
> 4. Get a couple extra batteries, hard drives and power supplies or  
> even a spare laptop. You should have a Clonezilla or Ghost image of  
> each model laptop.
> 5. Find a cheap laptop repair vendor. My rule is that you get one  
> $200 repair and then its trash
> 6. Accept that Steady State and/or DeepFreeze only work on a restart  
> and a restart requires staff to go through the login process again
>
> I can send you a link to my vendor's latest laptop offerings if you  
> like.
>
> HTH
>
> Have a safe holiday weekend.
> ________________________________________
> From: oplintech-bounces at oplin.org [oplintech-bounces at oplin.org] On  
> Behalf Of Matt Hoffman [mhoffman at heightslibrary.org]
> Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 11:58 AM
> To: oplintech at oplin.org
> Subject: [OPLINTECH] Circulating Laptops
>
> Hi!
>
> Just wondering how many of you are circulating laptops at your  
> libraries, what issues you run into with them, and what policies and  
> procedures you have had to institute to deal with them.  Are you  
> using PCs?  Macs?  Any info would be much appreciated!
>
> Thanks!
>
>        Matthew Hoffman, Network Administrator
> Cleveland Heights - University Heights Public Library
>   (voice) 216-932-3600 ext. 284 (fax) 216-932-0932
> mhoffman at heightslibrary.org www.heightslibrary.org
>
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