WebJunction

Although I am lucky to have great IT support, I loved looking through the Cookbook for ideas. I have been working on an in-library laptop loan policy and was having difficulty coming up with procedures to go with our new policy. I love the idea from Michael in Florida about using Ghost software to create an image, so even "untechy" staff can get a laptop back to its original state. I can't wait to try this.

I am just now reading through the cookbook. I have had it sitting on my desk for a couple of months and every day I say, Today and everyday it is overwhelmingly busy, someone is out sick, the computers fade, people have overwhelming needs.

We have a county Internet Services whom I court and who have helped me learn what I need to do. What I like about the cookbook is the Chapt titled Keeping Up in the Kitchen. With no time, I need to at least keep thinking and not from just my perspective. More and more library patrons are being sent to the library to find forms on the internet--a home school form, a form from the Superior Courts.
Many of these people do not know how to use a computer, not to mention the internet. Sometimes it takes me a phone call and 20 minutes to find where the form is hidden. Just reading the cookbook and I feel less alone.

Eliza Wingate
Mendocino County Library
mendoref@co.mendocino.ca.us

I am grateful for the cookbooks, having reviewed both.
One exception to my gratitude has to do with a misleading statement on page 31 of the book, "The Joy of Computing - A Cookbook for Small and Rural Libraries" found here...
http://maintainitproject.org/files/TheJoyofComputing-1207.pdf
The statement is, "There are several free spyware protection offerings—such as Microsoft Windows Defender and Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE Personal. These offerings will help keep your computers and patrons free of this newer security threat." In this case, "your computer and patrons" infers public access computers within libraries. I and at least one other individual protested the above statement previously elsewhere and yet it remains.

The reason for the protest is that installation of the above mentioned Ad-Aware software (now known as Ad-Aware 2007 Free) on a non personal computer constitutes a violation of the end user license agreement. Please be advised that just because the Maintain IT Project says so and just because the Maintain IT Project is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation does not excuse one from abiding by the Lavasoft end user licence agreement (i.e. EULA). Should one happen to disregard the license agreement and proceed in violation of it, one does so at their own risk. Should one instruct their I.T. support person to install the software, in violation of the license agreement, one does so with the risk of losing their I.T. support person.

Being a tech support person myself, I must say that, being in such a situation is greatly disturbing and distressing. I ask that you please do not place your own tech support people in such an uncomfortable situation. Please honor your license agreements. Should you feel that an exception to the license agreement is in order, contact the company and ask them for an exception but do not ask your support person to do something illegal.

Personally, I have worked with Lavasoft to obtain such an exemption for a small number of portable computers used in training the public. It was in Lavasoft’s interest to provide the exemption since it constitutes a way of advertising their product to the public -a product which I enthusiastically promote and use. Let us show appreciation and respect to the company who works so diligently to make the internet a safe place.

Thank you.

Thanks for this valuable feedback; we share your concern about libraries using properly licensed software and don't want to give any advice that implies otherwise. We'll correct this in the .pdf ASAP and post a notice here as soon as the correction is made. We encourage other folks to send corrections and suggestions about the cookbooks to maintainit@techsoup.org.

--Barbara

Dear -{00}-,

Thanks a million for picking up that mistake. You're absolutely right about the End User Licensing Agreement (EULA) for Adaware Free. It specifies that to install the software you must be a "personal home user". That obviously doesn't cover library use. We've changed the spyware section on page 31 of the Cookbook to read as follows:

"Spyware protection: Even though antivirus software has improved when it comes to picking up and squashing spyware (nasty software that monitors user behavior), it's not a bad idea to also install some spyware protection on your computers. There are several free spyware protection offerings, such as Spybot Search & Destroy and Microsoft Windows Defender. As with every type of software, the best anti-spyware solution changes frequently, and you often receive better protection when you pay some money. So if you want the latest information about anti-spyware utilities, or if you want to know more about fee-based software, check out the reviews at PC Magazine."

We just uploaded a corrected version of the entire Cookbook 1 file, and a corrected version of page 31 by itself (so those who already have a copy can print off the corrected page and slip it in). Check out http://maintainitproject.org/cookbooks/ for the revised materials.

Thanks again for taking the time to review the cookbooks,

Chris

Hello,
Thanks again for spotting this error. The pdf on the site (both the entire Cookbook and chapters) represent the latest, corrected version. Because of your question, I changed the text on the site to be more clear. Thanks for pointing that out!

-sarah

The MaintainIT Project at TechSoup
--> find out the latest at http://maintainitproject.org/blog

Thanks for sharing how you use the Cookbooks, Lori. I'm glad they've been helpful.

Did you change the content at all for your staff training? If so, what types of changes did you make?