Legal Research

MaintainIT Cookbooks

Do you know about the MaintainIT Project? They produce 'IT Cookbooks' For example, their latest Cookbook is "Planning for Success, a guide for the overworked librarian" http://www.maintainitproject.org/cookbooks/planning-for-success

This free online resource brings together the most current ideas and best practices for planning, building, and managing your library's computer technology. Librarians around the country have contributed their knowledge on topics ranging from security solutions and strategic maintenance practices to community building experiences involving Web 2.0 tools and vital partnerships. And best of all, like all of the other MaintainIT materials, it is FREE.

Some great topics worth checking out:

- sample technology plans
- guidelines for collaborating with key stakeholders such as funders, IT departments, and vendors,
- in depth strategies that can help you save money, make the right decisions, document necessary information and test your equipment,
- important insight into daily management, from remote desktop software and help desk management, to extending the life of your computers and step by step troubleshooting guides,
- basic practices for ensuring your library's network security, including use of firewalls, bandwidth management, security policies, how to monitor performance and choose an ISP, AND
- examples of Web 2.0 in action in libraries!

MaintainIT is also offering a lot of free webinars focused on public access computing and the new Cookbook. See the topics and register at: http://www.maintainitproject.org/events.

Now I suppose LCSH wouldn't force these to be catalogued under "Cookery"! (grin)

Stephen

Full post as published by Stephen's Lighthouse on November 06, 2008 (boomark / email).