TechAtlas (WebJunction’s free technology planning and management tool) hasn’t been on the scene for libraries as long as WebJunction, but we are definitely excited to be part of this five-year celebration. For the past few years, the team at TechAtlas has been working with libraries, spreading the word about our tools and listening to the feedback from our users to help improve what we offer.

A big part of this work includes offering webinars and trainings to provide quick demonstrations of TechAtlas tools and resources. And course, as part of the 5th year celebration, we have a list of our 5 most popular webinars. Here they are (in no particular order):

1) An Overview of TechAtlas
2) TechAtlas Inventory Tools
3) Using Event Tracker as a Help Desk tool
4) Technology Planning with TechAtlas
5) TechAtlas for Grant Applicants

You can catch one of these great webinars in just a few weeks. The “Using Event Tracker as a Help Desk tool” webinar will be held on May 28th at 10am (Pacific)/1pm (Eastern). Details about the webinar and a link for how to login to the session are available at the TechAtlas site. Hope to see you there and at our events in the future!

This past Tuesday I was fortunate to spend the day with a group of librarians at the Texas Library Association Conference who came to spend the whole day learning about technology planning and how TechAtlas can help them work through the steps. I co-presented with Tine Walczyk from the Texas State Library and Archives and it was really a great experience for me to get to train with her. She brought up some great points for libraries to keep in mind as the work through the planning process.

So thanks to all of the attendees in Texas and I hope that you enjoyed the session!

Phenley asks:

“We have a scanner for staff (actually in my office, and I’m usually the only one to use it) but would like to put it out for the public, since we do get a few requests. So my question: if you offer scanning for the public, does staff do it, or is the scanner out and available for anyone to use? Do people seem to be able to manage, or does staff usually have to help?“

Please share you best practices, pitfalls, or other comments either in the original discussion or here in the blog as a comment. As always, if you have if you’ve got a question you want to ask the WebJunction community or you see a good question coming in, please post it in the Question of the Week topic.

“Our library is hoping to have four wireless equipped laptop computers available for patrons to borrow in the library. …

“… Is anyone else checking out computers for library use? Is anyone willing to share their circulation policies?”

Though the topic garnered some discussion in the months since, tfinney prompted official Question of the Week status by reminding us of the issue’s relevance.

“My library is also in process of circulating laptops. I am also curious to find out circulating polices for laptops in public libraries. “

As laptop prices continue to plummet and wireless access moves closer to ubiquity, this seems like a service many libraries may try. Please respond to this question in the discussion boards or here, in the blog, as a comment.

If you’ve got a question you want to ask the WebJunction community or you see a good question coming in, please post it in the Question of the Week topic.

With help from consultants (and technology planning gurus- they literally wrote the book) Sandra Nelson and Diane Mayo, we are assessing ways in which WebJunction and TechAtlas can provide tools that would make the technology planning and approval process for E-rate applications easier. As a part of this study, we are soliciting input from libraries on why they do or don’t have technology plans, why they do or don’t apply for E-rate funds, and what tools might make the whole process easier. Please take a few minutes to complete a brief survey about your library’s technology planning environment. The survey should only take about 10 minutes to complete.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=DRemHrlG5ksdTz8hPzIVsw_3d_3dnants

Even if you don’t have a technology plan or don’t apply for E-rate, we need to hear from you. The results and suggestions collected from this survey can really help to shape the tools that WebJunction offers to libraries that need to write technology plans.

Thanks!

By the way - TechAtlas is free software that helps libraries (like yours) create technology plans and manage technology. Exciting stuff, right?

But wait, you ask…”Didn’t you just release TechAtlas version 3.1 last month?” Yes we did – and there is much more to come! There is a very ambitious list of TechAtlas improvements for the next year and we are hoping to release these updates monthly. Sometimes these improvements will be small, like fixing links or buttons and other changes will be more noticeable – and hopefully for the better. Many of these improvements are driven by requests from our users. We have received great feedback about the functionality of TechAtlas and we have been listening. It’s never too late to share your thoughts and even a wish-list for TechAtlas improvements, just send a message to techatlas@webjunction.org.

You can read about the changes in version 3.2 on WebJunction and you can get a free TechAtlas for Libraries account here.

Follow the instructions for getting online. And I hope to see you Wednesday!

If you love looking at data, you can look at the actual percentages broken down by year.

Happy Retirement: Windows 95/98 and NT have been mostly retired, but there a few hanging on.

New Kid on the Block: Windows Vista is starting to make an appearance in the library scene, which is great. Libraries are moving ahead with new technology and keeping current.

What’s your library’s plan for upgrading and replacing equipment? Is Vista in your future? Check out WebJunction’s forum on Operating Systems if you have questions or want to know what people are talking about.

*We looked at data from 4,756 libraries and over 67,000 computers.

Just be cautious about taking the cookbook metaphor too far - my own experiments with the edibility of computer hardware have produced disappointing results…