Heh, heh. Finally got off my butt and did produced search box code for SWAN's online catalog. Of course, the NOBLE Swap Shop stuff made it a million times easier, but I still had to modify it and write it up. I just did a demo of it at the SWAN Quarterly meeting, and it was met with much approval. Hooray, they're moving forward!

Actually, I have to give major kudos to the SWAN folks (both the staff and those at the member libraries) because they've made the default Innovative catalog much more usable and user-friendly. And they're not stopping, either.

Dave P. says:

"If you're looking to get wireless in libraries, the simplest solution is probably to get some local nerds to stop by on a Saturday afternoon and hook up a donated Airport Base Station or two. Much easier than trying to find a tech-person on a regular basis, or trying to procure the hardware through channels. As for maintainance, once it's up and running, it keeps running. If you find the right nerds, they'll probably even donate a base station (at $300 per base-station, it's a distinct possibility)."

But how many local nerds are visiting the library? These days, even the smallest library needs a tech consultant because with all of the use our computers get, they go down a lot. Let me stress "a lot." But I'd encourage any and all local nerds to go meet their local public librarians and help jump-start them on the road to wireless. Let them know that there are folks out there who would use this service, because a lot of libraries don't think there is a need.

"So in the spirit of this New Yorker Talk of the Town piece on different city's choosing books for everyone to read, what book would you like to make everyone in YOUR city read? And, what city would that be?" [MetaFilter]

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