Mike,

I brought this up on the LABMGR listserv a couple years back, and there was enough discussion that someone arranged for a virtual panel discussion (that I was unfortunately unable to attend).

The general consensus was that because of the zeroth rule of security ("Without physical security, there is no security."), laptops pretty much have to be wiped between users.  If you are going to wipe it anyway, you may as well give the user admin rights so they can do what they need.  

We haven't gotten back into lending laptops mostly for budgetary reasons, but if we do, that is the model we will be following.  I don't know if we will try to establish our own procedure, or go with a laptop "vending machine" kiosk.  My understanding is that those are designed to wipe and re-image the machines when they are returned.  

Erich



On Friday, March 10, 2023 at 12:58, Mike Paulmeno eloquently inscribed:

> To All:
>                 I have a question for the group.  Does anyone here work at an
> institution which lends laptops out?  Our campus is going to implement such a
> program.  The impetus is coming from IT and the student government, but
> the library will be involved as the plan is to use self-checkout machines.
> We're wondering how other institutions secure the laptops themselves.  Do
> you wipe them after each use or just use something like Deep Freeze/lock
> the devices down so people can't install anything?
> 
> Best,
> Mike
> 
 Michael Paulmeno Systems Librarian Lucy Scribner Library, 210 Skidmore
 College (518) 580-5505
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