Wireless in the Library?

Yes, you heard right! The library now has a wireless connection for our students, faculty, and staff. So, bring in your laptops, PDAs, smartphones, or whatever you have with wifi capabilities and surf the net to your heart's content.

A local wireless provider called Airnet is providing this service FREE! Airnet (http://www.airnetgroup.com/)is located in downtown Chattanooga. This sure is mighty nice of them! So a BIG THANKS goes out to Airnet from all of us at Chattanooga State! The connection is wifi 802.11b (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/802.11b)Ad hoc. There is a link on the library's page with settings (http://library.chattanoogastate.edu/wifi.htm). If you have questions about the service, please call (423-697-4436) or email (reference@chattanoogastate.edu) the reference desk.

The library's settings page has links to examples on how to connect to the wireless Internet. If you know of any good help files out there, please comment to the blog so that I can post the links. Most laptops running Windows XP have no problem connecting to the service but my PDA (Dell Axim X50v) is a little different. I have to configure my PDA to only look for wireless connections that are called "Only computer-to-computer" instead of "All Available".

I think every new device out there with wireless capabilities has some little idiosyncrasy so if you can't figure it out, just ask at the reference desk.

DDH

It is late in the night, and you’re doing research for a class project. The library is closed, and your home computer via the Internet won’t let you access the library databases to do research because a username and password is required.

What username and password! What can you do?

Find out the username and password from your home computer!

At the library’s web site, click on the "Students" link under "What You Need to Know" in the gray menu bar on the left-hand side of the page. The "Catalog" and "Research" tabs will give you directions on how to retrieve the username and password for the current semester. There is even a video!

With the username and password, you can access the 30+ library databases at your home computer over the Internet.

Why do you have to enter in the username and password off-campus? Due to the library’s license agreements, only Chattanooga State students, staff, and faculty can access the library databases off campus. The username and password system allows your access but not everyone on the Internet.

Have questions? Comment to this blog!
 DDH