CDROM project for Ithaca NY school libraries

[Mike Eschenbrenner <mweschen@IST.SYR.EDU>]

Fellow LM_Net subscribers:

I support the computer equipment at SUs School of Information
Studies and am volunteering my time and expertise to my local school
district which is undergoing a comprehensive upgrade to it computer
system, including the installation of hundreds of new computers for
classrooms and libraries. I have the task of helping the librarians
try to see what CDROM resources they should be considering over the
next couple of years.

There are technical issues associated with deploying CDROMs across 12
libraries, so I need to get an understanding of how many might be
deployed at each site. (We are looking to provide shared access to
the CDs by stacking in towers attached to servers. And we can put a
server in each school or one central one for all to tap into)  The
librarians are looking to me to provide some information on how other
leading edge schools are grappling with this issue.

How are some of you using CDROM services in your libraries. Do you
have only individual CD players attached to your desktop machines, or
are you pooling them on servers? What kind of CDs are you using. Are
you using macs or pcs, and have you found the titles you want equally
available on both. What do these titles typically cost (ball park
figure) And what gotchas did any of you experience in your
efforts to deploy CD services at your libraries.

I know I have asked many questions and appreciate whatever morsels
you can through my way. Thanks to all who can help me out a bit here.

Regards,
Mike Eschenbrenner

School of Information Studies
Syracuse University
4-108 Center for Science and Technology
Phone - 315-443-9686
Fax - 315-443-5806
mweschen@ist.syr.edu
http://web.syr.edu/~mweschen/