Technology rules!
This month, I look at four books to help you
move forward in the world of technology. The
first is a basic guide to wireless networking,
then come some solutions to those nagging PC
and budding Internet problems, and finally
a look at the state of the art for virtual
reference.
Wireless Networking Made
Easy: Everything You Need to Know
to Build Your Own PANs, LANs, and WANs
by Russell Shaw
ISBN: 0-8144-7175-7
Published: 2003
Pages: 259 pp.; softcover
Price: $27.95
Available from: AMACOM Books, American Management Association,
1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019, 212/903-8316; www.amacombooks.org
If you have no idea how wireless networks
work and are thinking of setting up a connection,
a node, or an actual network, then this is
a book you must read. In simple, straightforward
language, the author guides you through the
technology and hardware you need for your PAN
(personal area network), LAN (local area network),
or WAN (wide area network).
The book begins with a brief overview of
wireless technologies and then turns to setting
up a wireless network or Internet connection
on your own PC. After explaining Bluetooth
and WiFi standards, the author moves on to
the issues involved in setting up a LAN or
a WAN. The main focus of the book is on helping
a business or organization set up and manage
a wireless network. A handy glossary is included
in the appendix to help you with the acronyms,
standards, and new terminology.
The author devotes a few chapters to the
hardware, issues, and management of setting-up
a wireless network. He makes some suggestions
for particular brands of hardware and software,
but more as examples than true recommendations.
This at least gives you a starting point for
locating equipment. There is an appendix of
online resources that avoids sites by particular
hardware vendors, but lists 15 useful Web sites
for learning more about wireless technology,
standards, and applications.
As many libraries are becoming interested
in wireless technologies, this easy-to-read
book will help you sort through the hype, the
conflicting standards, and the myriad applications
for wireless to help you determine if wireless
is appropriate for you. My bet is that a wireless
network is in your future, and this book will
help you get started.
PC Annoyances: How to Fix
the Most Annoying Things About Your Personal
Computer
by Steve Bass
ISBN: 0-596-00593-8
Published: 2004
Pages: 176 pp.; softcover
Price: $19.95
Available from: O'Reilly & Associates,
Inc., 1005 Gravenstein Highway North,
Sebastopol, CA 95472; 707/827-7000 or 800/998-9938; www.oreilly.com
Steve Bass, the well-known author of PC
World's "Home Office" column and general
PC guru, is the guy you would love to have
sitting in the cubicle next to yours. Then,
every time one of those little annoying things
happens with your PC, you could yell over
and he would have the solution. Well, this
book is the next best thing. In reading it,
I found at least a dozen annoyances that
I had no idea how to change, and here were
the step-by-step instructions. Things like
cleaning out the Windows System Tray and
Start menu, getting Web pages to print correctly,
turning off those pesky automatic URLs in
Word, and so on.
The book is organized into seven chapters,
covering E-mail (Outlook, Outlook Express,
Eudora, AOL, and Hotmail), Windows (primarily
XP), the Internet, Microsoft Office, Windows
Explorer, Multimedia (music, video, CDs, and
DVDs), and hardware. You can browse through
a chapter or just flip through this friendly
book. Most fixes are a paragraph or two in
length, and many involve downloading some third-party
software. All of the software and utilities
mentioned in the book are collected onto a
Web site hosted by the publisher, as well as
relevant articles from PC World.
The layout of the book provides ample margin
space, which is where the author lists amusing
Web sites, anecdotes, supplemental tips, and
other items of a quirky or interesting nature.
You can spend many enjoyable hours just checking
out these notes and sites.
My only complaint about this book is that
there are so many more annoyances to be solved.
The author invites you to send him e-mail with
your particular annoyances and promises to
post solutions to some of the best ones on
the book's Web site. But read the book first.
Net Effects: How Librarians
Can Manage the Unintended Consequences of the Internet
edited by Marylaine Block
ISBN: 1-57387-171-0
Published: 2003
Pages: 380 pp.; hardcover
Price: $39.95
Available from: Information
Today, Inc., 143 Old Marlton Pike, Medford,
NJ 08055; 609/654-6266; www.infotoday.com
This book is a collection of over 40 practical
articles selected by the editor, a self-described "librarian
without walls" and early adopter of Internet
technology, to help librarians address new
issues raised by the use of the Internet and
other technologies. Each of the 10 chapters
presents a new problem and includes several
articles that provide real-life solutions to
that problem. The issues discussed include
regaining control over selection, rescuing
the book, training users, using new technologies,
providing equitable access, systems issues,
keeping up with technology, legal issues, disappearing
data, and foreseeing the future.
I like the premise of this book—gathering
selected articles on topics of interest from
various publications—but since the articles
were not specifically written for the book,
the content is a bit choppy and, at times,
unfocused. The editor has provided brief commentaries
on each article to help smooth the transition,
but I still found distracting tangents. However,
the majority of the content is good, and the
editor's determination to only select articles
that provide practical solutions to some aspect
of the stated problem ensures that the reader
will have a wealth of experience from which
to draw.
Recognizing that these topics are timely
and need regular updating, the editor has provided
a Web site that lists the URLs that she selected
for the book, as well as supplemental articles.
In addition, most articles list cited works
or suggested readings, so you will have plenty
of material to explore if a particular topic
hits home.
Not every library faces all the issues discussed
in this book, but I guarantee you that all
libraries face at least a few. This book is
worth reading to see what solutions your colleagues
have discovered and to help you develop your
own answers.
Virtual Reference Services:
Issues and Trends
edited by Stacey Kimmel
and Jennifer Heise
ISBN: 0-7890-2045-9
Published: 2003
Pages: 194 pp.; softcover
Price: $29.95
Available from: The
Haworth Information Press, 10 Alice St., Binghamton,
NY 13904; 607/722-5857 or 800/429-6784;
www.haworthpress.com
The major thought that comes out of this
collection of articles is that staffing matters.
Although each of the 14 articles focuses on
a different aspect of virtual reference, all
of them mention the importance of having appropriately
trained and motivated staff to handle the virtual
reference assignment.
The editors have collected papers focusing
on a number of different issues related to
virtual reference, including managing the service,
collecting statistics, software issues, collaboration
with other libraries, and customer service.
The articles provide case studies from the
authors' libraries, which collectively cover
academic, public, corporate, and consortium
library initiatives. Some authors simply describe
the process involved in getting their virtual
reference up and running, while others ruminate
on the future of technology and reference.
I particularly liked the short essay by Anne
Grodzins Lipow of Library Solutions Institute
and Press, which applauds virtual reference
as a first step in moving library services
to the users, but cautions of the "horseless
carriage" syndrome. Virtual reference is not
a solution, it is a beginning.
Whether you have virtual reference services
available in your library or are just thinking
about it, reading this book can help improve
your current and future services.
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