APN in Children’s Area

It has been great to see how the new APN computers are helping out young parents. One dad recently was able to choose books while his son spoke to his mother on skype on the nearby computer. he was able to tell her all about the book his dad was about to read to him. It was so sweet to see!

The computers have really brought this area alive with children and young adults using the facilities.

Chrissy, Tasman District Library

Wifi Update

As I type this the newspaper table has been taken over by laptoppers (is that a word?…well it is now) busy using the library’s wifi access. It is great to see. However I may have to go over and maybe suggest they all become notepadders like myself as we take up so much less room. It might seem weird since we have the work computers to use but I like to bring in my notepad and have that going. I usually do blog and answer meebo stuff on that whilst having the library OS going on the work computers.Now this is interesting… I see a man wandering around aimlessly with a newspaper in his hand so I had better go and suggest he head upstairs to the YA section to find some room or maybe use the APN computers or bring in his laptop/notepad and read the newspaper online!!

Comments from Hamilton City Libraries APN customers

Well over 500 people a day are using APN across our 6 libraries. Wifi use is also increasing.
Here’s a few customer comments:

Benjamin said.. “I came to the library without being aware that a free internet service was available. I have used this service in addition to reading in the library. I think it is an excellent service.”

Stefan .. “I’m new in Hamilton just flew in from Germany and have no internet available in the hostel. Using the library internet connection to talk to home makes the start in New Zealand much easier.”

Anil .. “The service provided by the Hamilton Library is excellent. I am currently doing an online course and I have been using the resource everyday, and it has helped me to a great extent saving lots of money. The staff are doing a great job with the newly introduced facility.”

Susan .. “Thanks for asking. When I arrived in Hamilton about 2 months ago I was looking for a place to read. I liked the message outside the library and while reading here I found out about the free internet and used it mainly to keep in touch with family and friends and also to look for advertisements. I like the discipline of using it for just half an hour and how friendly the staff are. I haven’t tried learning anything new. Didn’t know I could Skype. It has been helpful that it is free and a quiet place to email.”

Central Hawke’s Bay District Libraries Triffid

 

The price of new hardware in a very confined space. Our technology triffid now sprouting its APN extras. Add some bungy cord and there you have it. I have said this before on our blog but I will say it again here. I couldn’t make it pretty but I did make it work.

Ngai

Helping the public

I have been finding that increasingly I am out at the APN computers helping people. Whilst I love this and see it as an extension of my other job (IT Network Support for CHB District Council) I am interested to know what other libraries are doing regarding this.

I have a growing number of elderly coming in and having sessions with me and these can take up to half my day. It is not so much a case of sending them to FAQs as it is not so much the mechanics they want to know about but the possiblilites.

I run regulated sessions already but it is the increasing amount of one off help sessions that take the time.

Do any other libraries run orientation sessions on APN and or help sessions?

Ngai

CHB District Libraries

WiFi2go

 

Thursday afternoon, a week ago. The new WiFi equipment has arrived and I’m keen on checking how good our network coverage will be. WiFi hotspot at Buller Library would give our increasing deman on online access new options.  Our IT suggested getting a technician in, but maybe I can do it?  Blond Librarians…. Stop!  Didn’t the hardware come with a manual?

 

Pick up APN-Helpdesk instructions – they have very good DIY photos included; I like that – and quickly run through the set-up, pluck in some cables and ….. done! A nice melody indicates an established connection.

 

The first staff laptop is already detecting a signal. Wow. Let’s try another laptop in a different area. Signal strength between 3 and 4, internet traffic: really F A S T.

 

Feel attempted to skype my sister in Berlin, but hello! – I don’t have a web-cam on my laptop. Maybe a bit of youtube, Google Earth and I-tunes. Not a prob for APN WiFi; data coming up quickly as.

 

So it looks like I can move further to promoting the new service. Oh, it just comes into my mind that we plan a workshop on how to use the internet for family research. With WiFi we can take more learners on board! And I can let council staff know that our meeting room has coverage too. Pretty good for training sessions. Or I could invite high-school students to run a WiFi party, and I will design a nice poster with a big WiFi symbol on it…

 

My mental brainstorming is disrupted. Two customers are working on their laptops in the study room and want to know how they can print out downloaded files. Maybe I don’t even need to promote WiFi?

 

Next day I have a go in front of the library building. Still enough coverage to do home-banking in the car. I think of all these happy campers. What a pretty cool “WiF2go” you can discover throughout New Zealand libraries.

 

APN in the northern King country

Here in the Otorohanga District we have been part of the People’s Network for six weeks now.

Computer usage is settling into a pattern which ebbs and flows throughout the day. First thing in the morning we have our regular customers – David from the local support house who loves spending time watching horror movies (with the permission of his supervisor!), Kura who’s working on her extramural studies, an older gentleman who follows form on boxing matches (his son’s a professional boxer) and Jennifer who’s researching her extended family’s land interests.

From around 11.30 am. tourists start coming in (German, English, American – all ages) off the buses that stopover in town after visiting the Waitomo Caves. Naturally, they’re thrilled to be able to check their email for free!

And then it’s after-school and time for the kids! Library assistant Sheila was a primary school teacher in a former life and her crowd-control techniques certainly come in handy. Tips she’s learned include addressing the children by name and closely policing computer start and finish times. Sheila also suggests the children might like to sit on a sunny couch and look at some of the books while they’re waiting their turn (and if they’re not already a library member, now’s a good time to join!).

I guess what I’m saying is that the APN has added another dimension to the day in our fairly small and formerly relatively quiet library. Like others have reported, we’re seeing new people come in who haven’t used the library before.

Yes, we’re also seeing the teenagers who’re meant to be in class. One funny story happened a couple of Mondays ago, when staff were still finding their way over managing APN usage. A group of four younger teens (two girls and two boys), dressed in civilian clothes, came into the library during the morning and, because it was quiet, enjoyed a good hour each on the computers. At mid-day, I suggested they might like to go and find some lunch and they duly left. Unfortunately, however, they returned to the library in the afternoon and were lounging round in the children’s section, reading aloud to each other and generally being silly. Library staff decided to phone the college and a teacher turned up in her car shortly afterwards to collect them. That same teacher came into the library a couple of days later when she was off-duty to choose books with her pre-schooler. She said that it had caused much hilarity in the college staffroom when she reported that she had found the four teens in question in the public library, because they’re not regarded as being a particularly studious bunch!

Rewards and challenges

Hamilton City Libraries have now had APN for over a month at all six libraries – here are some comments from staff & customers.

For Cazna and the Glenview library team the positives have included – the delight of customers when they find out they can have a session for free and the range of features available to them on APN; and the excellent service from the APN helpdesk. Challenges have been – managing behaviours of some people that usually come in in groups and stay for long periods, going on to waiting lists multiple times. They have also had to manage truants more frequently since the installation.

Central library Level 3 also comment that the service from APN has been great and very reliable.  Customers have been very happy with free Internet access and, with the extra terminals, being able to stay on as long as there is no one waiting. Wireless is also very popular. “Showed an elderly lady how to use skype to talk to her friends in England. She was very happy”.

Meg and the Customer Experience Team at the Central library comment that it is much better access with more terminals and faster and better service. “It is good to see a wide range of people gaining access to the internet and the other services provided. We see a lot of visitors to the city and country who are very appreciative – many young people travelling around the world. Main challenge has been the increase of more challenging customers. We have received many wonderful comments about the service and it is a delight to see people’s faces light up when they hear it is free. We would like to be able to help out more, some of our skill levels still need development. We need to make time to practice and learn from each other”.

Gill from Hillcrest library says the main challenge has been the time element after school – it seems to be a full time job for one staff member managing the swop overs!  They are having to check up on young people in the library during school time a bit more but have got good instructions from local high schools. They have a wider range of people visiting the library and enjoying the free extended time and services available on the computers, which are constantly in use. They have also found the service from APN first rate, but also emphasis the need to keep working on increasing staff skills.

The Chartwell team say it has been awesome to see customers using all of the new technology available, and has been interesting to see staff improving their own knowledge in order to help out customers. “Although it seems that library users have to wait a bit longer for service (issuing books) and it feels more like an internet cafe, it is good to see people using broadband. Customers are really positive. One customer was very impressed with the service – he is a computer tutor and said he would be informing his students of the APN service. It is extremely popular – word spread so quickly! Customers are pleasantly surprised that APN is free”.

Three weeks up and running…and counting

Central Hawke’s Bay District Libraries are now coming up to a month with the APN computers. Waipukurau Branch has become so popular there is very rarely a 5 minute period without the computers being used. Waipawa’s computers are being most heavily used after 3 o’clock with the local primary schools very impressed. The more elderly of our patrons are loving Google Earth and it has been great fun sitting with them teaching some of the nuances of it.

Last week one Skype session turned into a social event with all the other computer users coming around to say hello.

On the flipside we have had a few of our itinerant workers not so happy with having children ask them for help whilst they are on or chatting away to them. Can’t win ‘em all I guess.

On the whole a great start. Thanks Keiran & APN.

Help Out

The kids who come on in very regularly to use our comps have been exploring what else they can do on the web.  While on Bebo the other day one girl wanted to add a brick to the wall but needed to verify her email.  I helped her set up a hotmail account and she was away, able to do more on her Bebo.
The following day she was checking out her email when an adult member of the community sat down to use the computer next to her and noticed she had a Hotmail.  He then proceeded to show her how she could write to her blog (that is provided with her hotmail account) so that the whole world can read it.  With her eyes wide she wrote a story about what she had been doing that day and published it to the web.

Rachel, Carterton Library