As you may know, the SCLS Technology Team has made software updates on staff and patron PCs a priority and indeed, this year we've rolled out several major updates including Internet Explorer and Firefox.
Recently, our monitoring software identified a handful of PCs that did not receive either of the browser updates pushed out from our central servers. Upon investigation, we realized that the computers in question were quite out of date, in some cases over 10 years old. The hardware couldn't handle the updates and naturally failed. This is where a PC replacement plan could help a library with just such an issue.
What is a PC replacement plan?
A PC replacement plan is simply a budgetary tool that spreads the cost of buying new PCs for your library over a three - five year period. SCLS recommends that you count the total number of PCs in your library and plan on replacing 20% of your PCs every year. For example, if your library has 5 PCs, you should replace one every year. If you have 20, then plan on replacing 4 on an annual basis, and so on. Some libraries purchase new staff PCs on a three year replacement cycle while replacing their patron PCs every five years, in some cases with the replacement Staff PCs.
Is a PC Replacement Plan just an SCLS thing?
Far from it. Take a look at the Edge Initiative: (http://www.libraryedge.org/)
13 major organizations--from ALA to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are working together to develop national benchmarks for technology services in Public Libraries. In their Benchwork Framework Document (http://www.libraryedge.org/filebin/pdf/ULC_EDGE_Framework_032212.pdf), they specifically mention hardware (PC) replacement plans as a noted benchmark, necessary to the mission of providing patrons access to technology.
The End of Life for Windows XP makes this all the more important
In spring of 2014, Microsoft will officially stop supporting the Windows XP operating system. That means no more security patches, bug fixes or updates will be issued. As you know, SCLS has been working on a migration to Windows 7 this year and last, and will be rolling out staff and patron updates to the new 7 Operating System way before this deadline. However, a PC that is more than 5 years old will not be able to run Windows 7. The memory capacity and processing power needed to run the OS is not part of the older hardware. Moreover, PCs purchased prior to 2007 most likely do not have a licence to run Windows 7. When you purchase a PC through SCLS, the PCs come loaded with the latest Operating System installed. We then reimage the PCs to our current standard. If the PC was purchased after November of 2009, it will already have a Windows 7 license. However, if it's older and even if it could run Windows 7, we can't legally load the OS on that PC without purchasing an additional copy of the OS.
How can I find out how old my PCs are?
SCLS has always maintained a Workstation Status Report Page for member libraries. There, you can find pre-formatted listings of your PCs, along with information such as OS, year purchased, RAM, etc. These pages are manually generated on a regular basis and posted to the Web.
A new service SCLS is developing is real-time access to our PC database:
Here, you can log in and see more detailed information about your PCs. This is an experimental site, so it may change over time. Contact Jon Mark for login information if you're interested in trying it out.
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