EAST AYRSHIRE LIBRARY, REGISTRATION AND INFORMATION SERVICES

Transcription

1 EAST AYRSHIRE LIBRARY, REGISTRATION AND INFORMATION SERVICES 'Learning on the Move' - Gates/SE funded project Final Report By Senior Librarian August 2003

2 1. PROJECT RESUME 1.1 The basic thrust of the project is to use ICT to provide learning opportunities and information, plus lend equipment via the South Mobile Library serving the East Ayrshire SIP area, and support customers with organised tutor sessions on Kilmarnock College's BIG Bus. 1.2 The project falls into 4 main areas of development: (i) Online services on the South Mobile Library (ii) Lending equipment (iii) BIG Bus tutor-led sessions (iv) Staff training (matched funding element) (i) Online services on the South Mobile Library The project seeks to exploit wireless technology to deliver on-line services. After internal alterations to the South mobile to accommodate 2 laptops, it was intended that these would each be equipped with a mobile phone configured to dial into a council Remote Access Server (RAS), and then onto the council s Wide Area Network and out to the Internet. Domain controllers and a firewall would provide network security. Individual PCs would have Inoculan anti-virus software installed. Once online services were established, the 2 onboard laptops with Office application software, Intranet access to the council s website, and Internet access would be available for public and staff use. The Internet would offer access to Hotmail, learning web-sites, the library catalogue, including learning packages, access to reader development web-sites e.g. whichbook.net and EALRIS's own 4uReaders.net. The council s website not only provides local information, but has a number of online services, including an Online Enquiry Form, and there are also links to a local SIP ICT project for young people, YIPWorld, and the European funded Ayrshire Electronic Community with its own learning links and opportunities. (ii) Lending equipment To encourage and support further learning it was proposed to offer 4 additional low specification equipment for lending. These would be set up to mirror the configuration of the laptops on the mobile and Kilmarnock College's BIG Bus with Office application software and CD-ROM drives, and would initially be available to learners attending the BIG Bus learning sessions. A variety of learning materials would also be made available in support of these sessions. All hardware would be security marked and audited. Customers would be full members of the library and over 18 years of age. (iii) BIG Bus sessions 2

3 A programme of tutor-led sessions would be arranged and delivered by Kilmarnock College's BIG Bus. (iv) Staff training (matched funding element) This area falls into a number of strands. The Mobile Library Assistant and the Relief Assistant would provide day-to-day ICT support for their customers. NOF funded ECDL standard training would assist the Mobile Library Assistant staff to fulfil this role, while the Relief Assistant would receive a programme of in-house training. A one-day ICT and Learning Centre familiarisation course to be given to permanent and relief staff. Handholding would be needed initially when the project went live to support staff and build confidence. The technical set-up and checking of the lending equipment to be carried out by EALRIS s newly appointed Service Development Officer (SDO) who would expand his skills base by undertaking an on-line HNC in Computing at Kilmarnock College. Scottish Arts Council funded Reader Development training (completed in May 2003) would enable the Mobile Library Assistant to help customers exploit on-line local and national reader development initiatives. Training and guidance notes to be available for the public and the lending equipment PCs. 2. CRITICAL REVIEW OF PROJECT 2.1 As stated in the resume, the main thrust of the project was to provide online access on the Mobile Library serving the SIP. This part of the project has raised so many issues, some of which have yet to be resolved, and has been so time-consuming that the project has not developed either as we had intended or within the expected timescale. 2.2 Main problem areas: (i) Electrical problems (see Appendix 1for details) East Ayrshire's Transport Services advised on the modifications required for the South Mobile to accommodate 2 onboard laptops and a printer. The work was awarded to Prestonhall who carried out the modifications in March 2002 to enable the onboard laptops to operate. Part of the modification spec. included supplying and fitting a new inverter. It is worth pointing out at this stage that the original coachbuilder, G.C. Smith, did not provide details of the electrical circuits etc. at time of delivery and is now out of business, so Prestonhall was working 'blind' to a certain extent. The full extent of the problems only became apparent after the wireless networking was installed and the onboard laptops with printer plugged in. Unfortunately the newly installed electrics have been unable to cope with the additional load. (ii) Wireless networking problems (see Appendix 1 for details) 3

4 The networking element has had its own problems which added to the delays. Vodaphone is the council's current supplier of mobile communications and indeed had successfully set up a wireless network on the Community Health Improvement Project Van (C.H.I.P. Van) for the council's Recreation Section. And so it was decided to stick with Vodaphone's proposed solution based on experience with the C.H.I.P. Van. The hardware was ordered 16 th April 2002 and is still not complete. In April of this year (technology having moved on since the original solution was recommended), East Ayrshire's IT Section decided to install a GPRS card on the onboard staff laptop. This is now operational, but has now highlighted the electrical problems which are still ongoing and being investigated. (iii) (iv) Reception problems Although we knew there were reception black spots (Mauchline, Drongan and Littlemill) affecting around 7,500 people, we hadn't anticipated the erratic reception in a couple of areas, namely Logan and Waterside affecting around 1,500 people. However although this will affect the online element delivered by the South Mobile in these areas, it will not affect the equipment lending and availability of tutor sessions. Tutor-led BIG Bus sessions Since the acceptance of the project, the college's BIG Bus service has been taken off the road and is no longer available. However the college is offering alternative supported sessions in the community and EALRIS, working with Community Learning and Development, is compiling a programme of 4 x 2 hour sessions in 4 SIP communities (Rankinston, Logan, Stair and Netherthird). The promotion of these sessions will take place over the next few months. 2.3 To sum up, the progress of the project has been fraught with technical problems, which are not yet completely resolved (see Appendix 1). These problems have been very frustrating and taken up valuable staff time and partly for this reason and partly because it was felt that the online services element was fundamental to the project and should be in place first, the remaining elements have not been fully developed as yet. However we now seem to be making progress. 3. ANALYSIS OF USAGE 3.1 Since the Gates Team decided that the lending of the public equipment wouldn't become operational until the mobile library was online, the ensuing technical issues have meant that equipment lending has not yet been implemented and so have no usage figures to offer. In retrospect this part of the project could and perhaps should have been progressed regardless, along with the tutor-led sessions, but as can be seen from the Technical Summary in Appendix 1, there has been a considerable amount of staff time expended on getting the mobile online. It must also be borne 4

5 in mind that the People's Network was also being implemented at the same time by the same staff. 4. PLANS FOR POSSIBLE FUTURE DEVELOPMENT 4.1 EALRIS plan to continue to deliver training taster sessions, both college tutor-led and in-house, and to promote the availability of the lending equipment and the mobile's online services. 4.2 EALRIS is currently working with Community Learning and Development on the possibility of lending the equipment to their students who live in the South Mobile's 'catchment' area e.g. the New Cumnock group members. 4.3 Depending on availability and uptake on the South Mobile, there are a number of our smaller rural libraries e.g. Bellsbank, Catrine and Muirkirk, which have only 2 People's Network computers available and which would benefit from being able to lend equipment to their more isolated customers for home working. 4.4 Since EALRIS has received ECDL test accreditation, there has been increased interest in our ECDL resources from customers throughout East Ayrshire. We are currently considering the possibility of extending the lending of the equipment to ECDL students outwith the SIP, but only when SIP demand has been satisfied. 5. PLANS FOR CONTINUING PROJECT MONITORING 5.1 EALRIS intends to monitor and evaluate the Learning on the move project on an ongoing basis. Key areas to be tackled: Identifying future customer needs and trends Delivering performance measurements, quantitative and qualitative Identifying technical problems Identifying inappropriate use of resources especially the Internet 5.2 The following mechanisms will be used: The project's Implementation Team will stand down and an Utilisation Team will take over the development and monitoring of the project. The team will include the Marketing and Development Officer who will be involved in market research and promotion. Our Marketing and Development Officer is currently revising EALRIS Customer Response Form, which allows the public to give feedback on our services. Part of this form will relate to customer satisfaction levels and user information, which is then analysed using SPSS software. This mechanism will be used to identify future customer needs and assist with the evaluation of services. Collated monthly usage statistics (PC lending and tutor sessions) will be used to identify issues/problems /needs/trends. Training evaluation forms will be used to evaluate supported sessions. The information will also be analysed using SPSS software. EALRIS s Service Development Officer will continue to maintain a monthly fault log for hardware, software and line problems. Regular 5

6 hardware/systems audits are already conducted to ensure that all equipment is operating as it should. The Acceptable Use Policy has recently been updated and will be issued to all new Internet users. It will continue to be updated as services develop and issues need addressed. WebSense filtering software will determine Internet access for various age groups and control inappropriate Internet usage. WebTrends, web usage reporting software details usage times and sites visited by login/library. The report will be used to identify inappropriate site visits during regular reviews by the Information Officer, 6. FINANCIAL STATEMENT (See Appendix 2) - Copy invoices have been included with this report. Elaine Gray Senior Librarian 18 th August