Hi Everyone:
Currently my library has a set of iPads we use as digital door signs (in conjunction with an app called Kiosk Pro). We manage reservations using LibCal and utilize the iPads to display the related web page for that room so patrons know when it is booked. However in the four years since we put the devices in place, they have proven problematic to manage. Although the iPads are in single app mode, which prevents patrons from breaking out of the kiosk app, configuration changes require us to take the devices down, hand them to IT for unlocking, receive them back to make the change, then hand them to IT again for re-locking into single app mode. Also, since the only power option at the wall is power over ethernet, each device has a USB-PoE adapter behind the mounting brackets. However due to a miscommunication with our facilities folks, those adapters are also behind a piece of wood and so we would need to call them in order to change them.
All of this is a roundabout way of saying we feel our lives would be easier if we replaced the iPads with purpose built devices. These units from Visix are our leading candidate: https://www.visix.com/connect-conference-room-signs/ . Does anyone have any experience using them, especially with LibCal? I'm aware we will need to use Google Calendar as middleware as the Visix signs don't work with LibCal directly, but am interested in how people who have used these signs found them to work in practice. We're also open to hearing what other digital room signs folks have used.
Best,
Mike
Michael Paulmeno
Systems Librarian
Lucy Scribner Library, 210
Skidmore College
(518) 580-5505
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