All right! This post will be about the interview I took with
Meghan. I have met her before for another interview with ones of my classes
last semester. So she remembered me a little bit and asked how it was going
with my classes.
Meghan is the head librarian at the Milton Public Library.
It also turns out that she is the person who is in charge of the technical
systems at the library as well, something I did not know last time. So that was
my first question was who is the head of the technical stuff at the
library.
Did
they have any acceptable use policies? I asked her. I said I didn’t see
anything about it on their website. She said that it wasn’t on there. Meghan
said that all it really was is the 30min time limit, basic policy rules that
most other libraries have. No downloading anything on to the computers or
harming them in anyway.
The next question I asked what
about their budget. How much of their money was spent on what. She had to take
a moment to think about it. This is what she ended up telling me:
DVD’s about $38hundred
Audio Books - $4,000
Up keep for their computers systems and tech support -
$4,000
Database Items - $4,000
This brought up another question. Do they take care of the
tech support or do they get outside help? Turns out they get outside tech
support help. She also noted that they only keep their computers for about five
years then they upgrade them. That’s to make sure they are keeping up to date
with the new technology. When she was talking about the computers I then
thought who takes care of the website. The web site, if you have not visited it
yet, is set up very nicely. Nothing cheesy like you would see for other Vermont
libraries in the area. I asked who takes care of it. Meghan said they all take
care of the website and do everything them selves. I was impressed by the fact
they do it them selves.
When
looking around in the library I noted that I really didn’t see anything that
would help disabled people. It was one of the questions on the sheet our teacher
gave us and I was interested in knowing if there was really anything. So I
asked Meghan. She thought about it and said there wasn’t anything. She her self
I think was kind of surprised by that they didn’t have any of these assistive
technologies. Never crossed her mind at all I don’t think.
Is
there any protection for the computers? Was the next question. She said they
did. Sonic wall, a blocker and something called deep freeze they had on their
computers. Deep Freeze from what I could understand is the program that erases
everything that was saved on to the computer (word documents and such) when
shut off. So anything saved to the computer by anyone would not be there the
next day. The blocker I figured was to block unwanted pop up adds and Sonic wall
is their virus protection.
Is
there any unique type of technologies that they give to their patrons? Meghan
said yes there were a few. Unique type of service they have is Zinio, a online
magazine subscription that is free to everyone in the library. People can read
over 50 different kinds of magazines. Here is the link to Zinio for anyone
wondering about it.
Meghan
says they are also a part of the Vermont Online Library. It is database like most schools
have. Listen Up! Vermont is a
Audio book site where people can rent out audio books.
For all of these you just need a library card number and a
password. I believe the password is your last name.
The
last question I asked Meghan was if there was anything she would like to change
at the library. She answered this quiet quickly. She said she wish there was a
log in system on their computers so they could tell how long someone has been
on the computer. Right now all they do is go over to the computers and ask who
has been on the computer the longest.
That
was all the questions I asked Meghan about. I didn’t want to keep her away from
her job any longer. So I said that’s it and thank you. She said no problem and
good luck with my classes. I said I might be back for some other classes and
she said that was fine. Oh and before I left I gave her my teachers email so
she could contact her later on about the interview.
I thank Meghan for putting up with
me coming in and asking so many questions! It was interesting to hear how many
unique tech services they have. I’ve heard about them but not like she
explained to me. Also all those services people have access to them at home not
just at the library. What was nice to know was that if my work’s copy machine
breaks down (happens often) or need color copies (many think we do color copies
when we don’t) I can send people over to the library! Glad to give the library
some business since it is right behind my work place.
I am unable to get pictures at this time of the Library. When I do I will post them as soon as I can!
