What wireless good about?

Question

just finding what wireless good about and not good about....

Answer 1

Before you enter the exciting world of wireless internet access, you first should ask: "Do we really need wireless in our library?"  As with any technology decision, there are pros and cons.

If you build it, will they come?

Do your patrons really want this service?  As with all new projects, you will have to commit some money and staff time to providing it.  If there are other resources or services you could develop with that money that would be more heavily used, then installing a wireless connection may not be your number one priority.  However if you have lots of patrons who have asked to use their wireless-enabled devices in your building, you have a good reason to devote library resources to getting up and running with wireless. It might even be the case that the library itself has, or will have, wireless devices available to check out to patrons.  In that case, a wireless internet connection is a must!  

As you weigh your decision to be hot or not, here are some pros and cons we've heard to setting up your library as a wireless hotspot.

PROS

Space If you have decided you need to increase your library's capacity for public access computing, wireless can help solve crucial space issues.

There would be no additional wires.  This is good if you are in a building where you cannot add wires through the walls and ceilings, such as a historical building or a building made of solid concrete/cinder blocks, or if you simply don't have the budget to have more wiring installed. (But don't forget that your wireless access point will need a wired network drop of its own.)

Wireless can help maximize public access computing in your existing space.  If you are in a building where you COULD add more network drops but you simply do not have the space to add more workstations and desks to hold those workstations, a wireless connection can help you expand your capacity without taking up more space.  Users can simply work with wireless devices in existing seating areas that are not dedicated to computer workstations.

Free up PACs By enabling people to access the internet with their own wireless devices you will free up library public access computers for folks who really need them.

In-demand It's an in-demand technology.  Most new consumer electronic devices built today are wireless-enabled.  As the prices for these technologies become lower, the number of your patrons who will have access to these technologies is likely to grow.  And they'll want to use them!

Staff mobility It can give library staff mobility and flexibility. Wireless internet access opens up the possibility of "roving reference" and other types of on-the-spot help, with library staff bringing resources to users.

Easy set up It's relatively easy to set up.  Once you have taken into consideration the items in the ten steps, you will have answered most of the questions you need to answer in order to install a wireless connection.  When you're prepared, the actual installation can be quite simple.

Cheap It's relatively inexpensive to set up.  Our discussion of selecting hardware will demonstrate that, in order to add a wireless local area network (WLAN) segment to your existing wired network, you don't need to purchase a lot of new equipment.  For less than the cost of one new public access computer, you could have a robust wireless connection installed and serving several people at once.

Simple to maintain It's fairly simple to maintain.  Barring any drastic changes in your building's layout, once your connection is up and running, little needs to be done to keep it running.

CONS

Security There are security concerns.  Unauthorized network access and eavesdropping are two of the largest security concerns people have about using wireless internet connections.  Anyone who can get a signal could conceivably use the network and anyone with the proper software could read the data traveling over the wireless connection. Our discussion of wireless security can help you address this key issue.

Less control There is less control on the part of library staff.  While your public access computers are configured and locked-down exactly the way you want them, you won't have this level of control over the devices users bring into the library.

Bandwidth TNSTAAFL (There's no such thing as a free lunch.) All users connecting to the wireless access point are sharing the same bandwidth.  No single device on the wireless local area network (WLAN) gets the 100 Mbps dedicated bandwidth that devices on a wired network can get.  (Note: The 802.11b wireless standard specifies bandwidth of 11 Mbps per access point and the 802.11g standard specifies 54 Mbps.)  If there are lots of users trying to use one wireless access point, the connection from users to the access point can slow down.  If you are using a WLAN to augment an existing wired network, the effect of bandwidth sharing can be even worse.    No matter how fast you can get traffic from users' workstations to the gateway (the door out to the internet), you will be limited to the speed of the connection beyond the gateway - the speed of your internet connection.  (Adding a WLAN segment to your existing library network is similar to adding more on-ramps to an already crowded freeway - if the freeway doesn't get wider, you just get a big bottleneck!)

Supporting Users  It's an additional technology to support.  Both staff and patrons will need training in how to use it most effectively and staff will need to learn some additional technical support troubleshooting techniques.  The techniques aren't difficult, but for many staff members who already feel burdened by the feeling that they have to troubleshoot the existing machines it's just one more thing to have to think about.

You undoubtedly can think of a few more pros and cons that are specific to your library that we didn't address here.  The important thing is that you weigh all of them before you decide to devote your valuable library resources to a wireless internet installation project.  We hope our Ten Steps to Wireless will help you make solid decisions and know what actions to take next!