Using the Stanislaus County Library Computer Resources
Bravo! Good work, Stanislaus County Library technology folks. The free internet access and computer resources at the library are great.
I recall going to the library five or so years ago and being frustrated at not having wifi wireless access for my laptop. Years back, I recall going to my local Manteca library (part of the Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library system) and using the computer for catalog access on a dumb Wyse terminal with a monochrome-orange, text-only monitor.
When the internet was just taking off (1997?) they added Lynx browser access. Woo, I could access my website from the library - but most other useful websites wouldn't work with text-only browsers even back then.
Today, the Stanislaus County Library boasts free wireless wifi access at their downtown Modesto, Ceres, Denair, Empire, Hughson, Keyes, Newman, Oakdale, Patterson, Riverbank, Salida, Turlock, and Waterford branches. All you need is a library card to use it for authentication.
This is such a great resource for folks. I often stop by the Modesto library when I finish up appointments at customers in or near downtown Modesto. I use the free wifi wireless to check work email, power up my laptop battery (& cell phone if it needs it), generate an invoice for the work I just did & email it off to the customer, and schedule more work appointments & calendar them on Google Calendar. I even do a little Google Buzz/Reader and Slashdot technical news reading.
Today I biked downtown, and wanted to travel light. I took only a backpack with my wallet and cell phone and a few notebooks (work & personal, as you never know when good ideas will hit). I biked down the old railway line from Woodrow down to Granger, and then road the Virginia Cooridor bike trail all the way along Virginia Avenue until I reached Morris Avenue. Then I deviated from the Virginia Cooridor bike trail and continued down Virginia Avenue until it ends at 12th Street. I took 12th Street down to I Street and turned left until I reached the Modesto Library at 15th Street [insert link to bike trail map, do three versions, one on railroad path between Hetch-Hetchy trail and Virginia Cooridor, and one for the Virginia Cooridor trail, then one for Virginia Cooridor to Library path].
Here are some details about the computer resources at the Modesto Library branch: You can use one of four resources: Internet PC (for 1 hour), Express Internet PC (for 15 minutes), Scanner PC (for 1 hour), or Word Processor PC (for 1 hour).
The two different versions of the Internet are only different in the amount of time you may use them. The Scanner PC has limited email access, enabling you to email off the pictures or images that you've scanned in. The Word Processor PCs have no internet access, but all PCs have USB ports on them. The library sells 2gb flash thumb drives for $9.95, or your can bring your own, to store things you create on the Word Processor PCs, scanner, or save from online. The price isn't bad, especially if you need it right then, but you can get them cheaper for $6 with free shipping online or move up to a 16gb flash thumb drive for $26 if you can wait.
All of the PCs have Adobe Acrobat Reader, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Publisher, Microsoft Powerpoint. But obviously the best place to use these resources is the less-used Word Processing computers.
Another resource available is the ability to print out things from the Internet PCs. You can print two sheets on the black and white printer for free, and then it is $.10 per sheet after that. They also have color printing for $.25 per sheet.
Regarding the time limits: You may use each resource up to two times per day. So that means you could use the full Internet PCs for up to 2 hours during two different sessions, and the Express Internet PCs for up to 30 minutes during two different sessions. The Scanner and Word Processing PCs are not very utilized, and so long as there is no one signed up to use them, if the Library staff says you can, then you can continue to use them. Also, you can travel to each of the branches if you need more time to get the same access again.
Some things I'd like to see are the instructions online, perhaps in PDF form, so one could read about this ahead of time on the Library website. Some of these details are printed up in hand-outs, some are not (like all the time limit details, I learned verbally from the very helpful staff).
I'd also like to see the ability to use the reservation system, which is required before you access any computer resources, to sign up for full Internet PCs, and while waiting (in my case today, an hour), to be able to "reserve" and use right away an idle Word Processor or Scanner PC. I could have written the bulk of this post on a Word Processor PC, and scanned in some images I'll add later while I was waiting for an hour.
Other items which would be nice to see are: More browser choices. Firefox and/or Chrome would be nice. Internet Explorer is just not standards-based and rather annoying (not to mention all the security issues).
Some items that are a pain: No right-click on the Internet PC mice. That means you can't get to options like "Save As" when you want to download something, or easily select "Copy" or "Paste." But you can use the shortcut keys like CTRL+C to copy, CTRL+X to cut, and CTRL+V to paste. They also block a number of menu items like View - Source. This would be extremely useful so one could get URLs or edit website code. No tabbed browsing, and the File - New Tab is disabled. Ugh, but a work-around is to click on links while holding the CTRL key which will open it up in another browser. No ALT+TAB, which is a pain since you cannot switch to tabs, which then means you cannot switch quickly to the other browser window, requiring the use of the mouse (ugh). Not very efficient for a touch typist like myself.
I didn't bring headphones, but I'd be curious to see if the sound system works. That way you could learn about free long distance with Google Voice from the video that I recorded.
But, baring these complaints, it's a really nice set of resources available to the public for free. So, again, great job to the Library staff who set up the wireless wifi and scanner PCs, in addition to the simple to use reservation system for those PCs and the Internet PCs.
