RE: touch screens with Millenium Circ ?

[Alan Gray <akgray@xxxxxxxxxx>]

The Darien Library has had touch screens in use for Mill Circ, starting
several weeks after we saw Kevin's presentation.

They work very well, and most of our staff have adapted to their use --
though some are more comfortable with the mouse still.

We purchased 15" Elo monitors after looking at several alternatives. As
usual Kevin Brown of Computer Discount Warehouse was very helpful.

You will have your choice of two kinds of screens, those that can be touched
with a finger (or a stylus) or those that require a specialized stylus.
Sorry, the differential terminology escapes me right now.

We chose the type of screen that can be touched with a finger, because of
its ease of use, after being told that we shouldn't expect any significant
difference in longevity of the screens.

Some of the interface with Mill Circ is difficult (choosing several check
boxes, for example), but staff just use the mouse for that, or pick up a PDA
stylus we put next to the monitor. 99% of use is just finger tapping.

We got one monitor to let staff get a sense of things, and in 15 minutes we
had full approval to go ahead.

Once we got a full set on the Circ desks, we knew we had a success on our
hands, when we were asked to replace the monitors in the Circ back office,
since staff were reaching out instinctively and touching their non-touch
monitors.

I know that, locally, Greenwich Library chose to put up 17" monitors, but
I'm not sure they've had enough experience to say whether the size is an
improvement, but I would guess it is, but not significantly so.

And finally, stability of the Elo monitors is not a problem -- they are rock
solid on their base.

Alan Gray

-----Original Message-----
From: Mieko Yamaguchi [mailto:iss053@xxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2003 2:41 PM
To: innopac@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: touch screens with Millenium Circ ?

If you haven't seen it already I can recommend Kevin Jewell's excellent
presentation at IUG11 "Millennium Circulation and Touch Screen
Technology".

http://innovativeusers.org/iug2003/programs/H7/index.html

Kevin's presentation at last convinced me that Mill Circ might be a
possibility. :-)  Our circ manager wants 17" flat screens and we are
having problems finding a model that doesn't wobble.  The model mentioned
in Kevin's presentation has gone through a design change and is not now
suitable for touch screen.  I'd be interested to hear from anyone who
has found a suitable 17" flat screen.

Mieko

On Tue, 23 Sep 2003, Tom Klingler wrote:

> Anyone have any experience using touch-screens with Millenium Circ?
> We're talking about machines on the Circ counter that are dedicated to
> Mill-Circ.
>
> TIA for any advice and stories.

-----
Mieko Yamaguchi                                m.yamaguchi@xxxxxxxxxx
Technical Services Manager/System Coordinator        +44 (0)1248 382970
Main Library, University of Wales Bangor, UK   +44 (0)1248 382979 (Fax)