Our panel of expert presenters will be using your questions to guide the December 2nd Library Computer Networking Q&A.

In the mean time, take a look at the great resources on Networking and Security in the latest MaintainIT Cookbook:

• Introduction to Network Security
• Identifying Vulnerabilities and Risks on Your Network
• Creating Security Policies
• Selecting and Configuring a Firewall
• Introduction to Broadband and Wide Area Networks
• Monitoring the Performance of Your Network
• Internet Access and ISPs
• Wide Area Networks (Internetworking Your Library Branches)
• Bandwidth Management
• Further Resources for Networking and Security
• Tools for Networking and Security

Think of this as your opportunity to “call in” and get your toughest questions answered from Libraryland’s equivalent of the “Car Talk” guys!

• What is the social contract…our obligation to keep our skills current.
• Training budgets are seen as an easy mark in cuts to save money (they keep staff, but cut training)
• What does it cost to keep skills current?
• Investment necessary if we’re going to keep up-to-date.
• How can you stay vital and active in your community? If the resources you work with are getting trimmed back, you may need more in your bag of tricks.
• Who’s responsibility is “learning”? The individual’s? The organization’s?
• Your organization may help you keep your skills up to date, but you need to take the responsibility to act upon the knowledge you’ve acquired and apply them to the goals of the organization.
• How can we move toward a state where learning is something we all agreed to do? …to see learning as an opportunity to help each other be more successful, instead of staying in our own little silos.
• Ask yourself: What can I learn or contribute to help others learn to do their job?
• And be willing to go to others with your suggestions AND for them to not take it as a criticism of their work or inability to do the work. Acronym to remember: Q-TIP (quit taking it personally)
• Learn how to transpose what you’re learning in other spaces to your work in the library (eg. customer service you receive when shopping)
• One of the ways to tell if you’re doing a library job right is if you’re learning something.
• Learning has intrinsic awards.
• Learning is not penance.
• Management: your support for learning helps your staff feel engaged.

Bravo, George and Joan!

On December 10th at 1:00 Eastern join us for a discussion of Integrated Library Systems (ILS) and the trend toward customizability through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) with library systems expert Marshall Breeding and representatives from leading vendors in the field. We’ll discuss new features and capabilities available in the most modern library software, and what it really means for these tools to be “customizable.” This event will coincide with the publication of Marshall Breeding’s December 2009 issue of Library Technology Reports.

Register now for the webinar »

Step 1: Take this quick poll

Step 2: Post your most burning question below in comments or in the discussion on WebJunction

Step 3: Register for the live event on December 2 at 3:00 Eastern, Library Computer Networking Q&A where a special expert panel will answer your most burning questions.

Step 4: Watch it grow…it will be added to the already rich topic area of Networking on WebJunction.

It’s that simple.

Michael and David are hoping that you will help build the project by adding your comments to the essays, to answer the question, What do you think librarians need to know to succeed?

And sorry this is late, but earlier this month folks gathered in Salt Lake City for 2009 LITA National Forum “Open & Mobile” and I wanted to highlight the many LITA 2009 Presentations available for download.

If you attended either of these conferences, please share your thoughts and surface the highlights. In this time of tight budgets, were looking to you to spread the wealth of your experiences!

In our industrialized world, people are now afraid of apples. Afraid of buying the wrong kind. Afraid of making a purchasing mistake or some sort of pie mistake.

And they’re afraid of your product and your service. Whatever you sell, there are two big reasons people aren’t buying it:

1. They don’t know about it.

2. They’re afraid of it.

If you can get over those two, then you get the chance to prove that they need it and it’s a good value. But as long as people are afraid of what you sell, you’re stuck.

WebJunction member, Stephanie Gerding will interview Victoria Yarbrough, City Librarian at Douglas Public Library in Arizona, Todd Schlechte, Library Director at Gretna Public Library in Nebraska and Jennifer Doyon, Information Technology/Teen Librarian at the Brookfield Library in Connecticut, to learn about the donation they requested and how they’re using it.

This webinar is best suited for public libraries that are listed in the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) database or have 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. For more information about TechSoup for Libraries, visit http://techsoupforlibraries.org.

UPDATE: View archive »

WASHINGTON – The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) today announced that it has awarded the first four grants under NTIA’s State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program to fund activities in California, Indiana, North Carolina, and Vermont. The program, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will increase broadband access and adoption through better data collection and broadband planning. The data will be displayed in NTIA’s national broadband map, a tool that will inform policymakers’ efforts and provide consumers with improved information on the broadband Internet services available to them.

“Broadband will bring many benefits to the Nation, such as job creation and innovation, but these benefits have been delayed by the lack of comprehensive, reliable data on the availability of broadband service,” said Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator Lawrence E. Strickling. “This program addresses an important need and will provide a valuable tool in bringing broadband and jobs to more Americans.”

NTIA received applications representing all 50 states, 5 territories, and the District of Columbia to participate in the program, meaning that all governments that were eligible to apply for grants did so, whether directly or through a designated entity. The agency is currently reviewing the remaining 52 applications and expects to continue announcing awards on a rolling basis throughout the fall.

A summary of the four awards announced today is as follows:

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is awarded approximately $1.8 million; the Indiana Office of Technology (IOT) is awarded approximately $1.3 million; the Rural Economic Development Center, Inc. (e-NC Authority) is awarded approximately $1.6 million; and the Vermont Center for Geographic Information (VCGI) is awarded approximately $1.2 million to collect and verify the availability, speed, and location of broadband across the states of California, Indiana, North Carolina, and Vermont, respectively. This activity is to be conducted on a semi-annual basis between 2009 and 2011, with initial data coming available in November 2009 to inform broadband policy efforts. Awardees are to present the data in a clear and accessible format to the public, government, and the research community.

The CPUC is also awarded $500,000 for the cost of broadband planning activities in California over four years, bringing its grant award total to approximately $2.3 million. In addition, the e-NC Authority is awarded approximately $435,000 for the cost of broadband planning activities in North Carolina over five years, bringing its grant award total to over $2 million.

“The four award recipients submitted well-formed proposals that are both fiscally prudent and serve as a model for others,” Strickling added. “We are committed to making the program succeed nationwide and will continue to provide guidance to applicants where necessary to help them improve their proposed projects.”

NTIA noted that the four award recipients submitted grant applications that met or exceeded program requirements in all areas. For example:

Data Collection: While all four recipients plan to collect data directly from broadband providers, each also described plans to collect or utilize data from other sources. Examples include wireless propagation models, speed tests, online and field surveys, and drive testing. Recipients also plan to use existing datasets that were developed for other purposes but are valuable for broadband mapping, including orthophotography, parcel maps, and E911 datasets.

Verification: The recipients will use multiple verification methods, and each also plans to use independent verifiers to conduct data verification work.

Collaboration: Recipients demonstrated that the relevant state agencies are committed to the success of the project and plan to be actively engaged in its leadership. Each recipient is collaborating with other state partners, resulting in plans that are unique to each state’s needs and capabilities. In addition, while current Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and/or broadband resources vary by state, recipients described how their projects will integrate and leverage existing capacity.

The State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program is a matching grant program that implements the joint purposes of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Broadband Data Improvement Act (BDIA). The program will provide grants to assist states or their designees in gathering and verifying state-specific data on the availability, speed, location, and technology type of broadband services. The data they collect and compile will also be used to develop publicly available state-wide broadband maps and to inform the comprehensive, interactive, and searchable national broadband map that NTIA is required by the Recovery Act to create and make publicly available by February 17, 2011.

The national broadband map will publicly display the geographic areas where broadband service is available; the technology used to provide the service; the speeds of the service; and broadband service availability at public schools, libraries, hospitals, colleges, universities, and public buildings. The national map will also be searchable by address and show the broadband providers offering service in the corresponding census block or street segment.

Awardees are required to contribute at least 20 percent non-federal matching funds toward project costs. In addition, while the BDIA mandates that each state may designate only one eligible entity to receive funds under the program, each state’s applicant will be carefully evaluated and must meet the standards described in NTIA’s Notice of Funds Availability for this program in order to receive funding.

U.S. Department of Commerce’s NTIA serves as the executive branch agency principally responsible for advising the President on communications and information policy. For more information about the NTIA, visit www.ntia.doc.gov.

Your library may also be eligible to receive a donated upgrade to your public access computers. Read the eligibility requirements here: http://www.techsoup.org/stock/restrictions.asp#ms

Ross Riker has posted to our Operating Systems discussion a note about Windows 7 downgrade options. Read it here: http://www.webjunction.org/operating-systems/-/resources/discussion/66203324