Maine - TechAtlas

RE: Reports

2009-05-04T22:16:46Z

Hi Jean -
My apologies for not responding sooner!

There is a function on the Software Inventory screens in TechAtlas that can allow you to find installed copies of software. To see this tool:

1. Log in to TechAtlas
2. Click on the Inventory tab.
3. Click the link to Software Licenses.

This is where you can keep track of the software licenses your library has purchased and to also find installed copies of software on your inventoried computers. You'll see a link to the "Installed Copies search function" on this page. Enter keywords such as "Microsoft Office" or "Adobe Reader" and the search will look through all of the computers in your inventory to see which computers have software titles that match.

I would keep the search broad and not include specifics such as a version to ensure that you get a complete list of search results. It is also important to remember that the TechAtlas inventory is only updated when you choose to do it. New computers or newly installed softwared won't show up in the search results unless the inventory information is up-to-date.

Please let me know if you have any questions that I can help with. You can reach our support team at techatlas@webjunction.org if you need anything.

Thanks!
Kendra Morgan
TechAtlas Project Coordinator
WebJunction

Reports

2009-04-16T19:53:22Z

We are thinking about using TechAtlas for inventory and would like to know if it is able to run a report by vendor software, not just operating system. For example, how many staff computers have Print Shop 22, or, what version of Flash player is on each machine?

I don't see any way to customize Report Generator to do this, or see software as a canned report.

Is it possible, and if so, can someone tell me how to do it?

Thanks.

Jean Ward
Westminster Public Library, CO

Re: Inventory question

2007-04-04T19:06:43Z

Thanks Kendra,

Yes, this is part of the grant you mentioned. I appreciate your verification of what I suspected.

Donny

Re: Inventory question

2007-04-04T19:03:22Z

Hi Donny,

I'm guessing that you are completing this inventory because you are participating in the Opportunity Online Hardware Grants from the Gates Foundation. If that is true, you only need to inventory the public access computers that are in the library. And to do that you actually have three options: 1) the manual form 2) the local tool or 3) the network tool.

It sounds like the best options for you would be the manual tool or the local tool. The local tool will still run the VBS script and you will need to run it on each public machine individually. You will also need to be logged in as the administrator for the tool to work. The advantage to this is that you will gather comprehensive information about each machine and the tool works very quickly.

You can also choose to use the manual tool for the inventory as you suggested. If you have a lot of hardware that is identical, you can copy a computer profile that you have already created to help save some time. Just go back and change the name of the computer after you create the copy.

If you run the network tool on the server that is the domain controller, you will be inventorying all of the machines that are listed in the active directory, including any that are part of the county network. That might result in a very extensive list of computers and you would need to go through the inventory and indicate which are public access machines.

Hope this helps!
-Kendra Morgan
TechAtlas Outreach Coordinator

Inventory question

2007-04-04T17:47:12Z

Hi everyone. I was just informed that I need to do an inventory of our computers using TechAtlas, and I have a question about which method would be best for our use.

We have three Windows servers - two running Windows 2000 Server and one running Windows 2003 Server. All three of these servers are part of a workgroup, not a domain. All of our public computers belong to this same workgroup. Our staff computers, however, are different. Our County Government's IT department has a domain controller, of which the vast majority of our staff computers are a part. The rest of our staff computers belong to the same workgroup as our servers and public computers.

Confused yet? My question is whether I should be doing the manual entry for the inventory. Will the automated vbs tool inventory all of our workgroup AND domain computers, while at the same time ignoring the several hundred other County Government computers that belong to the same domain?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Donny

Re: TechAtlas class

2006-11-29T19:44:26Z

Thanks, Jeff. I'll share whatever I come up with in the way of handouts, etc. I think this class might be the best way to get my technophobic librarians using Tech Atlas.
Linda

Re: TechAtlas class

2006-11-29T19:38:11Z

Linda, I know there are several folks involved with the Rural Library Sustainability program that have incorporated TechAtlas training into their workshop curricula, so hopefully some of those folks will join in this conversation as well.
What I can offer from the WebJunction side of things is a "sequence of events" for new TechAtlas users that we've recommended in several different venues, and which seems to be pretty effective.

We built this into a help item within TechAtlas itself, so if you have a TechAtlas account, login and then select the Get Started link from the Home tab. That Get Started page presents a suggested sequence of steps for building a technology plan in TechAtlas and includes links to each the functions.
Hope this helps!

Jeff Hall
 
WebJunction

TechAtlas class

2006-11-29T19:19:46Z

I'm contemplating offering a class for our librarians in the spring about TechAtlas. We have a computer lab with 11 computers. What I'd like to do is to introduce TechAtlas and walk them through the various components and then give them time to start a tech plan. Does anyone have any ideas about this or has someone already offered a class like this? Appreciate the help.
Linda Gens
Oklahoma

Re: WebJunction technology planning focus groups

2006-02-24T18:49:56Z

Oops - sorry about that!

The article was archived, but will be "live" again in about 10 minutes. Let us know if you are still unable to access the article.

Jeff Hall
WebJunction

Re: WebJunction technology planning focus groups

2006-02-24T17:50:22Z

I can't find an article at the link given. And searching for it with the search function doesn't seem to help.

WebJunction technology planning focus groups

2006-02-06T17:50:20Z

WebJunction is currently organizing focus group discussions on the subject of library technology planning. These will be conducted as phone conferences with an optional web meeting component, and will be one hour in duration.

Our goal is to learn more about how public libraries are performing technology planning tasks now. The feedback that we get during these focus groups discussions will help WebJunction to plan for an additional round of development work on the TechAtlas technology planning tools.

For more information on these focus group sessions, please see the following article on WebJunction: http://www.webjunction.org/do/DisplayContent?id=12607

Re: TechAtlas Feedback

2005-12-21T19:24:57Z

The final group of TechAtlas assessments has now been posted. The new assessments are the following:

WebJunction's Integrated Library System Assessment
WebJunction's Staff Professional Development Assessment
WebJunction's Patron Technology Training Assessment

TechAtlas is a free resource for all WebJunction members - if you don't already have an account, you can click on the TechAtlas logo on the right rail of any WebJunction page to sign up.

Jeff Hall
WebJunction

Re: TechAtlas Feedback

2005-09-26T18:05:45Z

A new group of three TechAtlas assessments has just been posted . This is the second out of a total of three planned groups of new and revised assessments, all written with the needs of the WebJunction community in mind.

Our goal is to make sure that all of the WebJunction TechAtlas assessments are genuinely useful for our community, so please use this forum to send any feedback you might have.

The following new assessments are now available:

WebJunction's Networking and Telecommunications Assessment
WebJunction's Security Assessment
WebJunction's World Wide Web Assessment

TechAtlas is a free resource for all WebJunction members - if you don't already have an account, you can use the blue TechAtlas button on the right rail of all WebJunction pages to sign up. Please join us!

Jeff Hall
WebJunction

Re: TechAtlas Feedback

2005-08-25T18:30:12Z

We've posted the first set of revised TechAtlas assessments. This is one of three planned groups of assessments that WebJunction is in the process of re-writing to make them (hopefully!) more useful for our community. Any and all feedback is welcome - please post your comments to this forum!

The following assessments are now available:

WebJunction's Basic Technology Assessment
WebJunction's Hardware Assessment
WebJunction's Public Access Computing Assessment
WebJunction's Software Assessment

If you don't have a TechAtlas account already, you can create one at no charge using the blue TechAtlas button in the right rail of every WebJunction page.

Jeff Hall
WebJunction

Re: TechAtlas Question

2005-07-06T22:22:40Z

Rose-
Thank you so much for your feedback. To answer your questions:
Yes, you are right on in our thinking about TechAtlas. We see offering states the ability to have a "partner" account. This account allows states the ability to create and customize assessments as well as view the answers in aggregate. And, we are aiming it to be "E-rate Friendly". Let's chat about what you are interested in doing, and possibly we can test it out and get feedback from you. I'll send you an email to set up a time to chat.
Again, thanks for all of your feedback Rose.
Anna

Re: Basic Technology Assessment Feedack

2005-07-06T20:39:53Z

Rose, Thanks for your great feedback on the TechAtlas Basic Technology Assessment. Incorporating patron privacy into the mix is a great suggestion, and we'll definitely do some re-work to address that issue.

Your suggestion about adding a "notes box" is a great idea - we should be able to do that without a problem.

Likewise for your comment on VOIP - that does need to be more clearly defined, since it's a relatively new technology. Thanks for catching that!

Jeff Hall

Re: TechAtlas Question

2005-07-06T18:16:50Z

Here is some general feedback about TechAtlas:

Are you considering letting states customize this tool for their particular needs? We gather technology data through several venues--public library survey, library automation projects, technology plans that libraries submit to the state library, etc. The problem is that we don't have one central database for all this data and we don't have complete datasets for all public libraries. This might be a far out idea, but it would great if we could add our own questions to TechAtlas and have libraries complete the survey and we could upload it into a database. This way, we would have one consistent data source for libraries and we could use it for everything--the public library annual survey, technical data on libraries. The other benefit is that libraries (assuming TechAtlas is E-rate compliant) could use TechAtlas to fulfill E-rate tech plan requirements.

Re: Basic Technology Assessment Feedack

2005-07-06T18:04:47Z

Oops, I posted my response to another thread. Here is my feddback regarding the Basic Tech Assessment Inventory:

Hello,

I went through the various TechAtlas surveys. I think this is a great set of questions to ask regarding technology planning. Anna asked for specific feedback on the Basic Technology Assessment. I do think those 11 areas cover basic technology. The only other item you might consider addressing is patron privacy. For example, how often do libraries delete patron records? Do they have programs such as Fortres or other ways of securing public computers? Privacy is an area that we address in the CO Technology Standards for Libraries. We recommend that libraries delete patron records every three years and have policies on privacy and security.

The questions don't have lots of acronyms or technical jargon that would make them difficult to answer. I think you are targeting the appropriate level for your audience. I think it would be helpful to have a notes box for the section since most of the questions are multiple choice. The one question you might need some explanation on is VOIP. I think this one is still new enough to libraries that you might need to state that it's running your phone service over the internet connection.

Overall, it looks good to me.

Re: TechAtlas Feedback

2005-07-06T18:01:22Z

Hello,

I went through the various TechAtlas surveys. I think this is a great set of questions to ask regarding technology planning. Anna asked for specific feedback on the Basic Technology Assessment. I do think those 11 areas cover basic technology. The only other item you might consider addressing is patron privacy. For example, how often do libraries delete patron records? Do they have programs such as Fortres or other ways of securing public computers? Privacy is an area that we address in the CO Technology Standards for Libraries. We recommend that libraries delete patron records every three years and have policies on privacy and security.

The questions don't have lots of acronyms or technical jargon that would make them difficult to answer. I think you are targeting the appropriate level for your audience. I think it would be helpful to have a notes box for the section since most of the questions are multiple choice. The one question you might need some explanation on is VOIP. I think this one is still new enough to libraries that you might need to state that it's running your phone service over the internet connection.

Overall, it looks good to me.

Re: TechAtlas Feedback

2005-06-27T19:50:50Z

Just a note to announce that we've "gone live" today with a beta version of the new "Public Access Computing" assessment. This is the first in a series of detailed topic-specific assessments being developed by WebJunction as logical "next steps" after the Basic Technology Assessment.

Any and all feedback is very welcome!

Jeff Hall